Not to get technical: Toe's unique sound will wow HK fans
Don't let the complexity fool you - Toe's startling sound rocks, writes Richard Lord
about Toe: their music sounds like the output of scarily talented technical virtuosos (rhythmically and harmonically complex, constantly evolving), so it might seem objectively admirable but lacking in emotion.
Instead what the Japanese band produces is a mysteriously touching, approachably melodic sonic collage. Despite its complexity, it's not off-putting or aurally challenging. Mainly, it's disorientatingly beautiful.
Yet in the lead-up to the band's third Hong Kong appearance, guitarist Yamazaki Hirokazu tries to deflect praise. "I don't think our music is technically complex - we are such bad players," he jokes. Those lucky enough to have secured a ticket to tonight's sold-out show at Kitec will find out how modest he is being.
Like much music that is hard to categorise, the band seem to inspire a meta-debate among fans. They most often get lumped into the post-rock and math rock genres. It's post-rock in the sense that rock instrumentation is used - this time to create something more experimental. It's math rock as it features endless subtle fluctuations, unusual time signatures and unexpected direction changes; they probably borrow much of their sensibility from jazz.
Sometimes their music has the delicate, winsome beauty of someone like Nick Drake, and yet it pulls off the trick of being urgent and propulsive at the same time. You can even dance to it, provided you don't mind being caught out every few seconds by a rhythm shift.
"I don't care about genres," says Hirokazu. "If you think our music is post-rock, that's OK. If you think [it's] heavy metal, that's OK also. But my musical roots are hardcore punk and emo."