Review Summary: The future is here.
Throughout their career, toe has crafted a technique unlike anyone else, with each release displaying a distinctive passion led by intricate instrumentals and heartfelt enthusiasm. Each release does follow that same algorithmic trail math-rock is famous for, but the band's sound, in that same respect, continues to broach into new territory, further refining their already powerful approach.
The Book About My Idle... comprised of toe's continued experimentation with math-rock -- the strings, polyrhythmic, and the drumming complex. And as we entered into toe's next chapter,
For Long Tomorrow, we were finally able to hear the band find their niche with this sound. Unlike their previous LP,
For Long Tomorrow displayed some of toe's most passionate grooves and cohesive guitar work. The drums were as powerful as ever and the music itself glowed as the energy was unlike anything else.
The Future Is Now in a way advents the future of toe, swelled with the passion
For Long Tomorrow possessed and bursting with the potential
The Book About My Idle... exhibited. They're just as powerful as you hoped and are continuing to bloom into the only real icon post-math-rock has. With this EP, we can already foresee toe's next LP and the power it will possess.
Although toe carries many characteristics of post-rock, they lack the usual formula of crescendo and explosion. toe doesn't depend on buildups and the crashing of wave after wave. More like a calm sea in this respect, toe utilizes intricate guitar work and complex drumming.
Run for Word opens up in this exact way. Weaved together are the strings of the guitars being plucked in cohesive union, and the drumming and bass acting as the backing beat for these two. Unlike many of toe's other songs, the drumming, while beautifully played, is not the highlight nor the central piece in this track; no, the guitars are. This style works exceedingly well as an opener for the album's next and perhaps best track,
Tsuki Kake. The voices of both male and female can be heard here and act as guest vocals, something toe is often known to incorporate into their releases. The beat and groove is reminiscent of r&b, and it's here the listener is able to sample what's in store in toe's upcoming release(s) -- with a sort of combination between math-rock, post-rock, and a calm silhouette of r&b detected in the background.
I've noticed in many indie bands the presence of introducing two themes and the subsequent combination of the two; and toe's third track,
Ordinary Days, does just that. The intricacy and rhythm heard on
Run for Word can be heard here, and the genre-fusing of the second track cameos as the conclusion, creating an interesting end result. Curtaining the album and single of the four is -- you guessed it:
The Future is Now. And with this, you're left vying for the future toe has setup for you, or rather, the curiosity toe has invoked within you for the future they're writing. Many of toe's songs are identifiable through the variety of sounds and instruments used; lest we forget their extensive usage of Rhodes Piano heard in
For Long Tomorrow. toe adorned this release with their expected unique incorporation of peculiar yet essential instrumentals, and at the same time, allowed for a foretelling of their future and their sound's evolution.
