Oh my God. Hi everyone. Nothony Rushtano here, the internet's busiest music nerd. It's time for a review of this new Car Seat Headrest album, The Scholars.

Here we have the newest full-length LP from modern, lofi, and indie phenomenon, Car Seat Headrest, the long-running musical project masterminded by multi-instrumentalist, producer-singer-songwriter, Will Toledo, who became a sudden indie sensation off of the buzz he caught on the Bandcamp platform, which was really seeing a lot of interest in the mid-2010s for this new generation of lofi, homespun, DIY, singers and songwriters and recording artists in the pop and rock sphere.

Will Toledo and Car Seat Headrest being one of the biggest success stories of that time, immediately making a pretty smooth transition into a proper indie label deal with album releases on Matador Records, which not only led to the release of modern underground rock classics such as Teens of Denial in 2016, but this deal also allowed the opportunity for Toledo to rerecord and rerelease the record that really put this project on the map, Twin Fantasy, in 2018, which I personally loved the reissue the remake of.

It's also been really great to watch Will creatively capitalize off of the full potential of this project, especially considering that it came from, at one point, a very obscure and subversive place.

However, in more recent years, I think expanding past the constraints of the lofi and indie lanes this project was forged in has proven to be a little difficult. After all, the band's last album in 2020, Making a Door Less Open, was their worst received project to date. I mean, like many pandemic era albums, it was a record that arrived during a strange time and featured a lot of restless experimentation. The release of this album also coincided with Will presenting himself and the band in a totally different way. He was wearing this mask during an interview that I did with him at one point, too. The recordings on this record also featured a slightly cleaner sound compared to previous Car Seat Headrest albums, not to mention the fact that there are numerous tracks on this record that go in more of a synth pop and electronic direction here and there.

I mean, I certainly had my issues with the album's execution and writing as well, but it's one of those albums that's going to have a rough reception regardless because of how different it is from previous releases. And touring behind this album also proved difficult because it led to Will and the band dealing with bouts of long COVID.

So, yeah, the ability to keep the momentum up that an indie band of this size usually needs in order to maintain interest, that just wasn't there. However, the pause that this situation created led to a lot of time to basically conceptualize and formulate this new record, which is a beefy 70-minute album and really sees that rock-epic ambition returning to Car Seat Headrest.

However, I wouldn't simply categorize this album as a return to form or the band just going back to basics because the music on this record doesn't pull as directly from those classic chaotic indie and slacker rock influences that previous big albums in the Car Seat catalog have. Nor does this at all sound like the product of one single person spearheading the entire effort. It seems like Will is really trying to transition Car Seat Headrest into something that sounds more like a full band with multiple voices and creative opinions.

It's also a very narrative-heavy set of tracks that I think are about as rock opera as a Car Seat Headrest album can get. In that respect, this is really like the band's 21st Century Breakdown or Tommy, something along those lines. The instrumentals on this record are like if you could pull off your own glammy, grandiose arena rock show, but do it on a shoestring budget.

On some level, I do admire this album for being as detailed and as eccentric as it is because some of the most lengthy and multifaceted Car Seat Headrest songs ever land on this project. Also, the concept of this album features a wide range of reference points, a cast of characters, themes that deal in spirituality and magic and health, too. Creatively and conceptually, there's certainly a there there. But by that same token, I'm having a difficult time feeling as enamored and excited about what this record is doing just simply with the music. I feel like for the most part, the ambition is there, but not always the execution.

However, I would say the opening track, "CCF", is a very strong opener, and I think a great example of what Car Seat Headrest is trying to do in terms of sticking to their rowdy wild lofi guns while also taking things in a slightly more progressive and maybe old-school rock direction. I think this opening cut makes great use of its eight-minute run time. It also has a very curious intro that features a lot of great guitar improv, hand drums, piano, eventually going into full lofi rock opera mode with very wordy verses and one of the catchiest hooks I think Car Seat Headrest has ever written. It's got the righteousness of a Springsteen anthem, but also the quirk of Elvis Costello's best moments.

It's a fresh sound for Car Seat Headrest for sure, but I think the honeymoon phase with this direction is over pretty quick as the slow pacing and strained vocal performances of the following track, "Devereaux", somehow makes this one feel longer than the opening track.

Then after this, the energy of the record goes down even further with the acoustic cut, "Lady Gay Approximately", which I do think features a solid performance from Toledo, but the track still does lead me wanting more. It doesn't connect all that well to its surrounding songs. It doesn't build up much musically. The over-flowery language in the lyrics, I think, prevents the song from having any real urgency.

However, the midpoint of the record does bring some of the strongest moments on the album: "The Catastrophe" as well as "Gethsemane". The former's shouty lead vocals, harmonious guitar playing, and driving drums make it a thrill from end-to-end. Plus, I think the spoken word bridge on this track is a great example of how exactly to make a catchy, direct, compelling song while also adding in bits that actually add to the record's narrative in a very clear and, I think, detailed way. Plus, at this point on the album, the concept, I think, starts getting a little autobiographical ("Keep an eye on the time zone changes two weeks to go / And it feels like ages / We should start a band / Lose all touch with the real world / Good luck with that man / That was the start of a major catastrophe"). There's more where that came from on this track, too.

Not too long after this, there is "Gethsemane" that I mentioned earlier, which I think is my favorite track on the album. And an even better example of just this mix of old school Car Seat Headrest and this new direction that's more theatrical and multifaceted. The performance is intense and the various passages and changes across the track's 10-minute run time kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. Plus between "Tabernacle" and "Can't run anymore," and finally, "You can love again if you try again" – I don't know how you work and write three smashing hooks into one single track. The full potential of this record is really capitalized on this one single song, in my opinion.

However, I think the focus and quality of the record drops off from here, and it shows that Car Seat Headrest was not fully ready to live up to the ambitions they set out with here as the song "Reality", especially on the intro, is this big attempt at a Bowie-type moment. But the band doesn't really have the instrumentation or the vocals to really pull off that classic glam sound and really give it the big showy the way it deserves. I think things do smooth out around the midpoint of the track, but the song doesn't really amount to much more than a garage band cover performance.

Then there's "Planet Desperation", which is the record's 18-minute monster, which has a lot of ideas but I think no real plan on how to assemble all of them or how to make them all complement one another, segue effectively, as there are numerous changes that are just either very jarring throughout the track or just seem like we're going to a full and complete stop and then just picking up somewhere random. There's like an organ rock odyssey in the midst of the track. The intro sounds like the start of a Magnetic Fields song. There's like a pitched down vocal, spoken word passage that's a pretty tough listen.

I mean, it's not all for naught. There is like a cool reprise toward the end of the track that ties things up a bit. And not every passage of the song is bad or anything like that. I just think it all could have come together much more cohesively.

There's a pretty fiery closer on the record, too, which is very much like a credits roll moment. And while I do have my issues with the record, it is nice to hear the band leapfrog their last LP, Making a Door Less Open.

But yeah, outside of the moments where I think Car Seat Headrest is playing to their typical strengths, I just find there to be a lot of points on this album where the writing and the performances just come across a pale imitation of some rock opera, classic rock image in their heads that isn't really reading as clear for me from an outside view, which is why I'm feeling a light to decent 6 on this album.

Anthony Fantano, Car Seat Headrest. Forever.