Fun fact: My favorite band of all time is Car Seat Headrest, and my favorite album is the 2018 re-recording of their 2011 album “Twin Fantasy.” It’s probably even my favorite singular work of art. So, I already have an emotional connection coming into this review.
Let’s back up a bit. Car Seat Headrest is an indie-rock band from Seattle founded by lead singer Will Toledo. They’ve been indie darlings for nearly their entire career, starting from when Car Seat Headrest was just Toledo recording songs in the back of his car on a subpar microphone. Following a series of acclaimed and influential albums, the band experienced a late career slump with 2020’s “Making A Door Less Open.” It was Car Seat Headrest’s first notable attempt to step away from clear-cut indie-rock into something more experimental. While it had some highlights, it also sparked concern among fans over the band’s next move.
“The Scholars” is another stylistic switch-up, this time trading synths and drum machines for a full-on ’70s-inspired progressive rock sound. Despite how radical that shift may sound, it lands better than one would expect.
While the album can be considered prog-rock, it leans more toward contemporary prog acts like The Mars Volta than classic prog bands like King Crimson, although tracks like “Planet Desperation” or “Reality” are reminiscent of “Red” era King Crimson. This more contemporary vision is heard on tracks like “Gethsemane,” which at times recalls King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard’s more experimental moments. While this mix of influences might all seem disjointed, it surprisingly coalesces.
The album is lengthy by today’s standards, clocking in at 70 minutes, clearly owing to its prog rock roots. It opens with the eight-minute “CCF (I’m Gonna Stay With You),” but the energetic instrumental and Toledo’s emphatic vocals, reminiscent of late-2000s Animal Collective, which for me is very high praise.
A solid third of the album is condensed into a three-track run at the end, and like much progressive rock, individual parts of these tracks could’ve been split into standalone songs. This is especially prevalent on the nearly 20-minute “Planet Desperation,” a wild and fun ride that drags at points, with its strange theatrical moments near the middle.
These longer tracks are balanced by shorter, punchier songs like “Lady Gay Approximately” or the earworm-y “Deveraux,” which features one of the catchiest choruses of the year. This structure allows the first half to act as a runway for the prog gauntlet of the second half.
The most challenging element of the album might be its lyrical content — not because it’s bad, but because it nearly requires an English degree to fully grasp. Toledo has always been a storyteller, but it’s especially evident on this album, which weaves a narrative around several college students and their outlooks on life, death, and everything in between. This narrative approach adds an interesting thematic layer, exploring so many different perspectives. However, it also makes the album feel tonally and thematically scattered, a feeling compounded by its eclectic instrumentation.
“Equals,” “The Catastrophe (Good Luck With That, Man),” “Gethsemane,” and the closer “True/False Lover” remain the lyrical highlights of the album, though they stand far above the rest. Overall, while the concept could’ve been a little cleaner, it provided a decent avenue for Toledo to showcase his songwriting chops.
While the album is quite drawn out and certainly a risky stylistic change, it stands out as a significant improvement from 2020’s “Making A Door Less Open.” It’s a towering but ultimately rewarding experience that I would recommend to anyone already a fan or looking for a unique and thoughtfully written rock record this year.
Author
Hello there stranger, this is Kate Megathlin, writer for weekly music reviews for the Seattle Collegian, here to assert how much more important her opinions are than yours. She is a Seattle Central student with a major love of music and music culture, and every week she’ll try to deliver reviews of new albums coming out, if you want to recommend albums for her to review, email her at Kate.Megathlin@seattlecollegian.com.
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