Catching the occasional glimpse of Toro Y Moi from under the armpit of a seven foot giant whose frequent fist pumps almost touched the roof of Goodgod Small Club, I tried to remember – its chillwave, baby. Which, luckily, totally worked, because Toro Y Moi is the sound of summery bliss – ice-blue swimming pools, melting popsicles and dawn-mist atmospherics.

Toro Y Moi’s Chaz Bundick started recording in his South Carolina bedroom when he was just a teenager, heavily influenced by his parents vinyl and tape collection. Fast forward to 2011 and he’s just released Underneath the Pine, the follow up to his 2010 debut album, Causers of This, accompanied by a world tour to Australia.

The Flog caught up with Chaz just before his Goodgod Small Club show last night.

I think I can discern quite a few 80s funk and disco samples on “Causers of This”. Do you sample purely for textures or is there a bit of a homage going on?
Sort of both, some of the synths i like the most, i can’t really access, so that’s when sampling is fun, but i also like to look for textures and odd sounds.

With “Causers of This”, the sound of the record seems to be heavily dependent on the intricacies of its production. Can the Australian audience expect similar sound in your live show, or is it a completely different arrangement?
The live show is completely different. From what I’ve heard people don’t mind the change of sound.

I read in an interview that there are no samples in “Underneath the Pine”. Has doing live shows changed the way you write?
In a way, I’m used to making songs without samples. It was just a matter of figuring out how to get back in the groove of things. One of the biggest factors that effected how I wrote songs was how they would work in live situations.

When did you start writing this album? I’ve heard that you were working on it even before Causers came out. What are the links between the two?
I started february 2010. I think the biggest link would be the influence of R n’ B and pop.

When did Toro Y Moi start? Can you pinpoint the moment when it kicked off?
I started when was fifteen but things didn’t start happening until June 2009.

What are you listening to right now? And what is the smoothest record in your collection?
I really like MJ Cole right now. That’s pretty smooth, but I think Bobby Nunn is pretty funky too…

Have you ever been to Australia before? What are you excited about doing? Tha Beach? Playing backyard cricket?
I haven’t! I’m really excited to be here. I really wanna be a big tourist and see the main attractions. We’re going to the beach tomorrow.

Are there any Australian bands you want to catch while you’re in Sydney?
Well we saw Pond and they were pretty sick. Tame Impala is alright by me.