While 2012 was the year of emo R&B (or PBR&B or however you'd like to pigeonhole it to its disadvantage), it seems that a year later, we're getting some carryover acts that didn't make it onto the ark. Toy Light is a producer and instrumentalist from LA, a city known for proliferating DJs and SoundCloud producers (but hey, no shade), and despite Southern California's brilliant rays beating down on a host of garage-punk and psych acts, Toy Light is making music that feels distinctly planted in London or New York. The Sign Of Life EP is five tracks of Kid A-inflected existential crises—all worry and layered vocals, minor chords and breakdowns that feel emotional and torn. The piano is Toy Light's greatest ally, in that it sets this effort aside from all that came last year and the year before. Toy Light is different than what we were listening to then, and its moroseness, its levels of deep introspection and colorfully grey mania, when they are all peppered with crisp hi-hats and flailing denouements, feels original and determinate. It's a standout for a new producer that you'd do well to pay attention to—Toy Light is going somewhere.
