Toy’s 2012 eponymous debut and 2014 follow-up, Join the Dots, found them thrillingly aligning the motorik tug of krautrock to post-punk and psychedelia. Here, the primary sources are late-1960s lysergic pop and the swoonsome, shoegazing melodies of Chapterhouse and Ride, as the Brighton quartet subtly reinvent themselves as an era-straddling psychedelic pop group. Some of these songs could be headed for an indie disco while smothered in patchouli oil, but a growing awareness of songwriting and sonic possibilities means they transcend the merely retro. Another Dimension and psych-pop-rushing Dream Orchestrator are as immediate as anything they’ve done; other songs require perseverance, but a darker, stranger edge – perhaps reminiscent of Wire, the Chills and the Only Ones – proves increasingly beguiling. Cinema is a crazed fairground whirl; Fast Silver effectively reflects the song’s use of a train journey as an oddly disquieting metaphor for self-discovery. It’s another fine effort from a band who are gradually building up an absorbing catalogue.
