Toro y Moi visited NPR’s Tiny Desk to perform cuts from his latest album Outer Peace after premiering the project on NPR’s website in January. Chaz Bear performed yet-more-mellow versions of the LP’s laid-back dance pop, serving acoustic arrangements of the record’s autotuned and synth-forward flavors with the help of a four-piece band. The group performed “Laws of the Universe,” “New House,” and “Freelance” before closing with lead single “Ordinary Pleasure” assisted by D.C. percussionist Foots of the R&B duo FootsXColes on bongos. Bear plays the shaker.
Outer Peace was Toro y Moi’s first album since 2017’s Boo Boo. Since the release, Bear has announced a spring and summer tour with six shows stateside, including festival gigs at Outside Lands and Afropunk Brooklyn, plus stops around Asia, Mexico, and Europe. (You can purchase tickets on Toro y Moi’s website.) Bear also followed up the LP by briefly posting a lo-fi mixtape dubbed Soul Trash V1 on Dropbox that flirts with hip-hop and has since popped up on SoundCloud. Earlier this month, Dev Hynes teased new Blood Orange music featuring Bear on vocals; that work does not yet have a release date.
Watch Toro y Moi’s Outer Peace Tiny Desk performance below.
https://www.npr.org/templates/event/embeddedVideo.php?storyId=715184370&mediaId=715193771
