Celebrating absolute freedom of creativity, Toby Tune’s album Floatation comes marked with an appropriate ‘unusual’ tag and proceeds to envelop listeners in this partly euphoric, partly joyful – retro dance and neo-classical – realm of unpredictable artistry.
Featuring engaging rhythms and free-flowing melodies, FOREST starts us out on a pathway through dance and orchestral vibes alike, right before WALK THIS WAY reinvents the sound entirely for an almost classic gaming soundscape; complete with the ups and downs of the 2D journey through an unknown world.
As the project continues, the music proves all the more immersive and unexpected, yet consistently makes for a likable, easy to escape into playlist for its rhythm, audio colour and crisp production alike.
The ambiently beautiful and musically breathy MOONBEAMS marks a striking moment at which all of this becomes clear. The experience is titled Floatation, and we’re gifted an entire universe of imaginative, instrumental ponderings through which we can peacefully float.
Alongside the musical aspects are more than a few natural world-style, cinematic and atmospheric listens. A WALK IN THE PARK is a lovely example, as is BAMBOO – both of which strangely represent their titles quite faultlessly.
Highlights from the thirteen-track collection include a pleasant and later jazz-kissed and uplifting ON THE TOWN, a subsequently energising and structurally unexpected ROAD TRIP – with something of a modern Americana edge – and a brilliantly fuzzy Celtic Folk explosion that is STRING ALONG.
Elsewhere we get plenty of melody, often freestyle on the keys and other such organic instruments, as well as moments of ambient embrace that are free from any drum-line but focused purely on the whispers of warmth created in the air around you. SADNESS is a fine example. And it wouldn’t be right not to mention the sudden juxtaposition afterwards, as sax and summertime keys unite for a genuinely joyous groove to finish things up.
A fun project, in short – an artist lost in the moment, enjoying the music, and presenting that same escapism to his audience.
