Toy - Clear Shot

The band Toy like to stretch the genres of shoegaze and psychedelic combining it with basic pop structures. After three years out of the studio, on Saturday 29^th October they release ‘Clear Shot’, their third studio album and with three singles released prior to it, it sounds like it will be their most cultivated record to date.

‘Clear Shot’ has been produced by David Wrench (Bat For Lashes, Everything Everything, Guillemots) and Chris Coady (Beach House, Future Islands) has mixed it in LA. These two have exquisite knowledge of developing albums and are sure to supply an original sound to ‘Clear Shot’. 

This can be heard in Toy’s first three singles that they have released; a distinct pristine sound is emphasised in each layer of the songs.  ‘Fast Silver’ was the first song released; it is a 6-minute single which isn’t a statement but rather drags the listener into a tranquil psychedelic voyage. The song is a moody first track as a return single, but it captivates the listener through the hypnotic haziness of Tom Dougall’s voice alongside haunting synths and vicious guitars.

  (Credit: Clear Shot Artwork)

‘I’m Still Believing’ takes us back to old school Toy; it is a break up song led by raw guitar chords and Tom’s exposing lyrics casually claiming “I feel unreal”. This song expresses Toy’s effortless skill of creating serene melodies, in possibly one of the simplest songs that they have created, it is one of the most important elements in their music.

‘Clouds That Cover the Sun’ shares similar qualities to Fast Silver, we are once again sucked into the voyage of hypnotic sound. It seems the band are maintaining their psychedelic influences a bit more over shoegaze and with a more developed intelligent sound. The song’s title is descriptive of the song itself, despite the song being quite melancholy there are sudden rays of sunny and exuberant sounds.

    (Credit: https://www.hackneycitizen.co.uk/2012/01/24/toy-shacklewell-arms-review/)

It is an exciting time for Toy and their fans, it seems like a long time since they have been present in the music scene. Now they return with a new album and a UK tour to once again perform their enthralling shows. Toy have released a free stream of their album recently on NPR Music but if you want to wait for its actual release, it drops on Saturday.

TRACK LISTING

1. Clear Shot
2. Another Dimension
3. Fast Silver
4. I’m Still Believing
5. Clouds That Cover The Sun
6. Jungle Games
7. Dream Orchestrator
8. We Will Disperse
9. Spirits Don’t Lie
10. Cinema

So Young Magazine

In this modern day, physical outputs of media can be quite rare due to a well known competitor – the internet. But with a turn for new and more modern techniques, there comes a need for older, more comforting methods. So Young certainly does things the traditional way in regard to a physical copy of the magazine, but every other method epitomises creativity.

                   (Credit: So Young Magazine, issue 4)

So Young is a fully illustrated music magazine, supplying a modern journey into the world of both art and music. The physical copies that they supply in record stores around the country (Piccadilly Records, Rough Trade etc), can give the same intimate experience that vinyl does. Music over the last few years has been an industry that has been quickly becoming entirely based on the internet but many fans admire the physical sides of these artistic creations; as can be seen by the recent rise in the purchase of vinyl over the past few years.  

The company’s ethos can be simply understood with a quote in their website bio – “So Young is a gift from us to you under the assumption that you keep going to gigs, buying records and looking at the sleeve artwork as you listen”(Link to website below). They understand the experience of music, not just as a listening one, but as a much wider sensory overload. It’s an admirable way of appreciating music and they continue this by making every issue of their magazine hold that same experience; by making it an artistic piece exploding with uniqueness within the pages.

              (Credit: So Young Magazine, issue 10)

In regard to their choice of music, they mainly target underground guitar music, and this is illustrated by a number of contemporary artists making each copy as original as the last through illustrations and graphic design. Some of the bands that have been involved with the magazine are Fat White Family, YAK, Palma Violets, Parquet Courts and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. So the genres of music are quite clear, So Young are heavily involved with Punk, Post Punk, Surf pop and psychedelic music. They represent an eagerness to supply us with the most relevant prevailing sounds.

Recently, So Young hosted a gig for their third birthday. The night involved artists such as Fever, The Orielles, Happy Meal LTD., Shame and Life. And moving onto bigger things, they are hosting their own festival at The Old Blue Last across 10^th-12^th August. The festival is free and supplies three days of music and an art exhibition. You can catch bands such as Traam, Baby Strange, Dream Wife and many more. Events like this show So Young Magazine have a bright future ahead of them, and with their growth they continue to supply free perks like this to its fans.

                    

                   (Credit: So Young Festival Poster)

You can easily access the So Young Magazine website which offers a blog, a page representing their artists, all the 10 editions of the magazine, plus other merchandise. Be sure to take a look at this and also check them out on Twitter and Instagram to hear about the latest gigs and music news. All the links are below.

Website - http://soyoungmagazine.com/

Twitter - https://twitter.com/SoYoungMagazine

Instagram - @Soyoungmagazine