Limited / Pink Vinyl / Downloadcode. A “live album from Toro Y Moi” makes sense, then, when you consider Live from Trona wasn’t recorded from an actual concert or festival appearance: rather, the show was performed in front of no one, amidst the beautiful landscape of Trona—three hours away from Los Angeles and a town home to about 3,000—the perfect showcase for a set of Bundick’s laidback tunes. Still, how does the beatmaker and songwriter translate live? In a live club setting, it works, because small, indoor venues amplify his layered, dense rhythms that propel his post-2011 output (and accentuate his penchant for catchy, striking riffs). But how does it work from the middle of a canyon? Bundick circumvents this by crafting a set that mostly sticks to the guitar-laden What For?. By tackling some of his least-loved songs head-on as the centerpiece of this record, Bundick shows a continued willingness to tinker with his work until he’s completely satisfied with the final product, which has been a hallmark of his career. Live from Trona also asks you to consider Bundick’s artistic output as a whole: by exploring sounds we never would have expected to hear from him in 2010, he’s continually evolving. The album leaves you wondering what his next pivot could be.
