#clock chimes

High chime in the beginning, a very low chime in the middle (almost like you hit it), and a high chime again at the end.

Play this every hour on the hour!

The buzz around Toy has been growing towards a crescendo ever since their first gig a year ago at a hipsterish London club night run by The Horrors. By the time they embarked upon an already-legendary weekly residency at hip Dalston boozer The Shacklewell Arms in January this year, it was louder than a squadron of biplanes overhead.

Last year's double-A debut single, "Left Myself Behind/Clock Chimes", established their signature sound of relentless motorik rhythms, distorted synthesisers and psychedelic guitars. Epic in sound and scope, the seven-and-a-half minute long "Left Myself Behind" and its slower but equally sprawling partner were available only on 12" vinyl - now on its fourth re-pressing - and free download.

Now comes single no. 2 in the form of "Motoring" (out April 16th on 7" vinyl and download from Heavenly Records).

As its name might imply, "Motoring" boasts an appropriately chugging rhythm from drummer Charlie Salvidge and bassist Maxim Barron, a man who seems to have modelled his look on an early Black Sabbath album photo. Dominic O'Dair, owner of an equallly luxuriant mane, provides chiming guitar chords that yearn for a stadium to echo around, while Alejandra Diez, a picture of glacial indifference, provides texture with spacey synth drones. Throw in Tom Dougall's bored baritone, chiselled cheekbones and pallid complexion, and you have the perfect package.

Toy describe themselves as “a Korg Delta-led five-piece formed in 2010”, though the sharp-eyed will notice that three of them date back longer than that as a musical unit: Dougall, O'Dair and Barron were in Joe Lean And The Jing Jang Jong, a Next Big Thing whose initial buzz fizzled out when their debut album was mysteriously pulled on the eve of release in 2008.

Toy's sound, thankfully, bears little comparison with its predecessor. Along with The Horrors and S.C.U.M. they are at the forefront of an exciting new wave of young bands coming out of London; the Horrors connection reinforced by bass guitarist Barron (a.k.a. Panda)'s side job in Faris Badwan's side-project Cat's Eyes, and Rhys Webb's pronouncement that Toy are his favourite band for 2012. And while we're at it for facts, Dougall is the younger brother of Pipettes-singer and superb solo chanteuse Rose Elinor Dougall.

Check out the slightly trippy video for "Motoring" below and stream their earlier singles.

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Toy - Clock Chimes (Hardway Bros Outer Space Dub)