Even if you’ve had a really shitty year, you can find comfort in knowing that 2012 has seen the release of some amazing records. From 2:54 to Beach House to Crocodiles to The XX and now to TOY.

I’ve been in love with TOY since I first heard Left Myself Behind and found next to nothing about them on the internet. I saw a few people mention them, but no one us had any knowledge on them. Thing is, this isn’t a bad thing. I don’t want to know what a band did last night nor do I want to know what they had for lunch. However, I’d probably want to know what whiskey they favoured. That’s an important one.

Also this year, a lot of amazing debut records have come out. Yes my favourite is 2:54’s debut but in joint first place is TOY’s debut record. I haven’t written anything in a week because I’ve basically been having the time of my life in London/Liverpool. Now I’m back “home” I am utterly miserable so I’m killing time thinking of how to kill time. The desire to write was slipping away, then I started listening to TOY’s record. Fresh enthusiasm has hit me, and I’m probably going to rant like a mental person about this record.

All good music should take you somewhere else. It should make you feel as if you loved or just floating through time and space. It should make you feel as if nothing in the world matters. And in the big scheme of things, if you let go- then not much means much. Guess you got to hold on what is dear to you and let the rest go. TOY do exactly that. In fact, they go beyond. They make you feel as if you are wearing your best loud shirt and are sat under a tree on lazy sunny day in the 60s. It doesn’t feel current but at the same time, it feels like nothing else. Now I know they’re getting compared to one of the best bands ever, The Horrors. Maybe it is me being utterly dense but I don’t get it. I really don’t. I love bands like The Horrors and S.C.U.M but I’m honestly not getting the comparisons?! Maybe it is because I just refuse to acknowledge it. The only comparison I can get from this is, is that all bands have put out amazing music. Surely that’s enough. Anyway, I could go on about lazy (music) journalists until I turned blue and I ran out of words. But that’s a different matter.

What I love about TOY is that they make songs that last. With a lot of records you skip through, and only a few songs are memorable. Of course I love Dead & Gone and Kopter because they last well over 5 minutes, but every song on this record has the power to mean the world and more to the listener. This isn’t a record that you can listen to on shuffle. You have to play it straight through. You play it straight through and lose yourself. At the end of the record, you will find a part of you that has been missing for a while.

The record makes you feel like you are on some kind of trip. I’ve never touched drugs. I panic when I take paracetamol, but this record just soothes your mind and makes you drift away. You know how I compare everything in life to Seventeen Seconds by The Cure and Psychocandy by The Jesus And Mary Chain, well TOY have created the same atmosphere. I hope, with all I have, that this record is amongst the likes of Psychocandy and Seventeen Seconds. It has that pure and dark feel to it. It is utterly ethereal. If you dig the way Warpaint make you feel when you listen to them- like you are being held and gently swayed, then this is the record for you. You can either listen to it as you collapse onto your bed. Or you can let your body freak out and sway as you spin yourself round and round. See all the colours, feel all the words and just go somewhere beautiful.

To make a debut record like this is truly something else. It just makes you even more excited to hear more from them. Hypnotic and delicately moving.

You can catch TOY live very soon :

Fri 19 Oct Sheffied, Plug
Sat 20 Oct Birmingham, HMV Temple
Tues 23 Oct Norwich, Waterfront Studio
Wed 24 Oct London, Heaven
Thurs 25 Oct Southampton, Talking Heads
Sat 27 Oct Brighton, Green Door Store
Sun 28 Oct Manchester, Ruby Lounge
Mon 29 Oct Newcastle, Cluny
Tues 30 Oct Glasgow, Sleazy’s