Toro y Moi

With Unerthed (Hole Erth Unplugged), Chaz Bear surfaces the songcraft of 2024's Hole Erth, his eighth full-length studio record as Toro y Moi. Rearranged for guitar, piano, drums, and strings, the collection adds a curious postscript to Hole Erth's unexpected, inspired, madcap pivot into rap-rock, hyperpop, and Y2K emo. Daring in its own right, Unerthed reveals a deft songwriter unguarded, inhabiting lyrics and instrumentation with uncomplicated poise and clever turns of phrase and melody. It's a return to basics for the shapeshifting Bay Area artist, a chance to excavate and shed new light on the material. These elemental revelations have been at the core of Bear's project all along, from his earliest CD-Rs to the many mutations of psych-funk, synth-pop, deep house, and beyond that have kept the independent music world transfixed and guessing for nearly two decades. But Unerthed sounds it out more clearly, underscoring that there has only ever been one genre here: Toro y Moi. An album, in part, about burnout and reclaiming oneself, Hole Erth came together unusually quickly for Bear, recorded in the span of a few months. Unerthed makes the case that the instinctual songbook captures more emotion and personality than initially meets the eye. Revisited, stripped back, and unpacked, what's left is the sheer strength of these songs. A worthy stop along the winding catalog of a musical chameleon, one of our contemporary greats.