If I could say anything about “Freelance” by Toro y Moi’s most recent album, is that it is a musical mixed bag. The production of this track plays with so many shaky synthesizers, heavy basses, and truthful lyrics, that listening to it feels like a whirlwind of sound that left my head spinning thinking “what just happened?” amongst other things.

Turns out I wasn’t far off on my assumptions. This single definitely packed a disconnected kind of funky electronic-pop sound, with gravelly backup vocals, intentionally sounding like a scratched CD. It’s plain to see that Chaz Bear really wanted to experiment with new sounds- different from that of Toro’s typical sound- and use the 30 minutes of the album to construct an ode to those people who will use technology in a positive way, by creating art and spreading joy with it.

The lines in the last verse, “I can’t hear you, maybe you could change your tone/ People tend to listen when they see your soul” highlights an important message that is significant to remember, to remind listeners that even though you may feel (artistically) blocked or alone at times, that you can still express yourself using art to speak out against the ugliness in the world.

While I could appreciate the message Bear was making about self-expression, this track was musically all over the place and hard to focus on the message due to the deafening instrumentals in the background. On a lighter note, if you’re looking for an energetic dance song to play when your friend passes you the AUX cord, then this might be the song you’d want to blast.

-Genna Dara