AND THE VOICE SAID (MELTED CREAM VINYL) | VINYL RECORD (LP)

Toth, Toth's paradoxical third album, And The Voice Said, is a prayer to be able to pray, a meditation on why he meditates, and a collection of jokes about what he holds sacred. "I've always felt conflicted about my spiritual strivings," Toth says. "I never wanted to identify as a Buddhist because Buddhism is supposed to be about non-identity. There's a classic line: 'If you see the Buddha, kill the Buddha.' This album is my attempt to kill the Buddha." For Toth, that might mean ending shows with audience-wide singalongs of "Open your heart to the universe!" Part irony, part catharsis. "It's tongue-in-cheek but joyous," he explains. "My default is so negative and self-loathing. I'm poking fun at the same things I need to survive." That duality - humor and holiness, irony and sincerity - runs through the album, which features a duet with Kimbra and was co-produced by Grammy-nominated artist Caroline Rose. It's also the first Toth album involving another producer. "I've never liked having teachers or sponsors, but I need them to get out of my own way. Caroline wouldn't let me hide behind abstraction; they had practices to help me connect with the 'voice' in the title." Across the album, Toth swings between the buoyant self-reassurance of "Not Broken" to the spiraling doubt that follows, taps into the zeitgeist with "Ice Cream" and into his inner voices with "Triangle People." His trumpet blares fanfare and alarm. As the record closes, he's found a fragile kind of weightless, trembling peace. It's clear Toth hasn't killed the Buddha. His assassination attempts fail gloriously. But And The Voice Said leaves behind so much beauty that, for a moment, you might believe having a self isn't so bad.