Toy

Hailing from London, TOY draw upon shoegaze, Krautrock, and classic psychedelia when crafting their pulsating, absorbing sound. After establishing the foundations of their hypnotic approach with the self-titled 2012 debut, the group pursued fresh directions on later releases, as 2013's Join the Dots brought a crystalline sheen while 2016's Clear Shot added folk and film-score elements. With the arrival of their self-produced 2019 album Happy in the Hollow, TOY had demonstrated mastery in shaping eclectic, atmospheric textures.

Vocalist/guitarist Tom Dougall, guitarist Dominic O'Dair, and bassist/vocalist Maxim Barron launched TOY in 2010 once their prior outfit Joe Lean & the Jing Jang Jong disbanded. Keyboardist Alejandra Diez and drummer/vocalist Charlie Salvidge, formerly of the punk band Mudfite, completed the initial roster. Shortly after forming, TOY relocated from Brighton, England, to London and secured a deal with Heavenly Records, which issued the limited-edition 2011 debut single Left Myself Behind in a run of 100 copies that vanished within a day. The following year brought the singles Motoring and Lose My Way ahead of the September 2012 self-titled debut album, which Dan Carey recorded with the band over two weeks. Rejoining Carey for 2013's Join the Dots, the musicians spent twice the prior duration refining their hypnotic psych-pop.

TOY next joined Bat for Lashes' Natasha Khan and Carey to record as Sexwitch, whose self-titled debut appeared in 2015. Diez departed that year, prompting the arrival of Max Oscarnold, also of Proper Ornaments, as the new synth player. Late in 2015 the group entered the studio with producer David Wrench to capture material drawing from folk, electronic, and film-music sources that ranged from Bernard Herrmann and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop to the Incredible String Band. The resulting Clear Shot surfaced in October 2016 with mixing by Chris Coady; later that year the band issued the Spellbound EP of unreleased tracks from those sessions.

TOY broadened their scope further on the fourth album Happy in the Hollow, tracking it at their home studio and at Carey's Studio B while exploring post-punk and acid folk; the effort marked their first self-produced collection and reached listeners via Tough Love Records in January 2019. That November they followed with the mini-album Songs of Consumption, presenting stripped-down covers of songs by the Stooges, Serge Gainsbourg, John Barry, and others.