''Outer Peace'' is the sixth studio album by American musician Toro y Moi, released on January 18, 2019, through

Carpark Records Carpark Records is an independent record label based in Washington, D.C. History Carpark Records was established by Todd Hyman in 1999 in New York City. In 2005, the label relocated to Washington, D.C. Carpark has subsidiary labels. Acute Re ...

. The tracks "Freelance" and "Ordinary Pleasure" were released prior to the album. On January 10, the album became available to stream in full via

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's website.

Background

Chaz Bear stated that the album came about after he decided not to tour for his previous record, 2017's '' Boo Boo''. He instead played DJ sets, later explaining that "The lubnightlife energy is way different than the concert type of nightlife energy. This next album for Toro is a lot more inspired by bigger club sounds." Along with the "accessible dance music" of

Daft Punk Daft Punk were a French electronic music duo formed in 1993 in Paris by Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. They achieved popularity in the late 1990s as part of the French house movement, combining house music, funk, disco, tech ...

, Bear was inspired by

Wally Badarou Waliou Jacques Daniel Isheola "Wally" Badarou (born 22 March 1955) is a French musician. Born in France with ancestry from Benin, West Africa, Badarou is known for his close association with the English group Level 42, and for his prolific wor ...

's "innovative synths" and trips to

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

and

Northern California Northern California (commonly shortened to NorCal) is a geocultural region that comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California, spanning the northernmost 48 of the state's List of counties in California, 58 counties. Northern Ca ...

while making the album. Bear also stated about the album title that "usually the peace is within, so to have peace on the outside is the challenge. I kind of just wanted to call that out."

Critical reception

Stereogum ''Stereogum'' is a daily Internet publication that focuses on music news, reviews, interviews, and commentary. The site was created in January 2002 by Scott Lapatine. ''Stereogum'' was one of the first MP3 blogs and has received several awar ...

'' writer Tom Breihan said that "With ''Outer Peace'', Bundick has given us a half-hour of playfully sleek synthpop, pulling in influences from house and R&B and straight-up

future-pop Futurepop is an electronic music genre that has been characterized as a blend of synth-pop, electronic body music, EBM and dance music, dance beats, based on Trance music, trance and techno.Peter Matzke, Tobias Seeliger: ''Das Gothic- und Dark-W ...

. He sings many of his songs through

Auto-Tune Auto-Tune is audio processor software released on September 19, 1997, by the American company Antares Audio Technologies. It uses a proprietary device to measure and Pitch correction, correct pitch in music. It operates on different principles ...

, which never muffles the bemused silliness in his voice." Jordan Lawrence of the '' Free Times'' opined that "It's the first Toro LP that isn't preoccupied with Bear's romantic insecurities and personal doubts", calling the album "yet another bold move, pushing decisively into Daft Punk-indebted modern

disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...

and bleary-eyed

Drake Drake may refer to: Animals and creatures * A male duck * Drake (mythology), a term related to and often synonymous with dragon People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family ...

-ishness."

judged that "The variety of transformative production on ''Outer Peace'' speaks to Bundick's efforts to challenge himself, as well as listeners."

Track listing

Charts

References

2019 albums Toro y Moi albums Carpark Records albums {{2010s-electronic-album-stub