Mahal [Silver Vinyl]

Mahal arrived as a sideways step rather than a statement of arrival. Instead of pushing forward or looking back, Chaz Bear let the record idle, taking in the scenery. Released on 29 April 2022, it was his first album for Dead Oceans and one that felt deliberately unhurried, guided more by instinct and atmosphere than any need to reinvent the Toro y Moi blueprint.

The title carried quiet weight. “Mahal”, a Tagalog word meaning both “love” and “expensive”, reflected the album’s emotional economy and its grounding in Bear’s maternal Filipino heritage. That connection ran deeper than symbolism. After initially shelving an early version of the record, Bear reshaped the project around an automotive motif inspired by jeepneys, repurposed military vehicles that remain a cultural mainstay in the Philippines. The jeepney became both literal and metaphorical transport, appearing on the cover and anchoring the album’s sense of movement and memory.

Musically, Mahal leaned into ease. The songs floated on relaxed, psychedelic funk, favouring feel over density and space over spectacle. Singles such as “Postman”, “Magazine”, “The Loop” and “Déjà Vu” unfolded with an effortless confidence, their grooves loose-limbed and sun-warmed. Bear’s lyrics were pared back and precise, leaving room for interpretation rather than explanation, and reinforcing the album’s understated emotional pull.

The project extended naturally into its visuals. Unable to tour, Bear bought the jeepney featured on the sleeve and drove it to fan meet-ups, before centring it in Goes By So Fast: a MAHAL Film, released on 1 June 2022. The short film, soundtracked by the album and starring Bear alongside Eric André, echoed the record’s lightness and gentle humour while deepening its cultural context.

Charting modestly on release, Mahal was never designed to dominate the moment. Instead, it felt content to exist in its own lane: reflective, playful and quietly assured. In letting the album breathe, Bear captured something rare in his catalogue, a record that values presence over progress and finds its strength in simply going by so fast.