TotorRo
Come to Mexico

4.0
excellent

Review

by Ben STAFF
October 21st, 2016 | 68 replies

Release Date: 2016 | Tracklist

Review Summary: Eternal Summer

French quartet Totorro has always been the place to be for energetic guitar driven math rock. However, ‘Come to Mexico’ demonstrates, to my delight, that they have more to offer, much more in fact.

The record contains a hearty portion of typical ‘Totorro’, short and snappy summer-y math-rock jams featuring plentiful upbeat tempo-shifts and many a bright bouncy melody. The guys satisfy those looking for the feel-good ‘hit’ that their music has always provided whilst working in more varied guitar work than seen in ‘Home Alone’. The listener can almost feel the sun on their face and the sand between their toes listening to the vibrant ‘Saveur cheveux’ and the soothing ‘Beverly Pills’ whilst whatever troubles they brought with them fall by the wayside. Additionally, the production is blissfully crisp, a notable improvement over their past work. The bass is warm, the drums are weighty and the delicate melodies of the lead guitar cut through the chugging chords of the other perfectly; each instrument finds the space it needs to breathe in the mix with wonderful results.

Totorro have always had a post-rock tinge to their sound, and this shines through more clearly than ever here. ‘100% Repros’ is one such song, a wonderfully pretty and meandering track that forgoes the post-rock ‘loud-quiet’ crutch and shifts from soundscape to soundscape akin to that seen in ‘Do Make Say Think’s self-titled record, though admittedly with considerably less instrumental variety. ‘Clara mystere’ takes an even more atmospheric approach, crafting a gorgeously soft world of sound for the listener to fall into. The best results are found on ‘Gerard Blast’ where the band skillfully meshes their two styles into one; they hit the listener with a lighthearted dance-worthy guitar line before seamlessly transitioning into a subtle post-rock build leading to the grand climax, somehow all done in under 5 minutes. It seems Totorro have perfected this blend that they so narrowly failed to pull off in past efforts.

Unfortunately, this tweak in style isn’t without its drawbacks. The project, whilst still fairly chilled out, isn’t quite as carefree as its predecessor in striving for a more mature sound. Indeed, the song ‘Come to Mexico’ could have benefited from the more sporadic guitar work that filled ‘Home Alone’ and instead comes across as a somewhat underwhelming indie rock track. Furthermore, the pacing of the record falters at times, seen most frustratingly when ‘Ouad & Khaled’ unexpectedly grinds things to a halt whilst adding very little to the record. Similarly, some of the songs meander on for a little longer than they can probably justify. Thankfully though, you wont remember any of these issues once you really fall into ‘Come to Mexico’, the charm and warmth of the record washing over its mistakes.

Totorro have firmly solidified their place at the center of the math-rock scene. They have successfully demonstrated that genres which sometimes seem sapped of all their creativity can still have much to give. Further, this record shows that summer isn’t quite over yet, at least not if you don’t want it to be. Relax, close your eyes, turn up the volume, and Come to Mexico.

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