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Car Seat Headrest
Teens of Style
Matador, LP or CD
There are breakup records, and then there are
breaking down records. Teens of Style belongs
to the latter camp. But if Car Seat Headrest, the
project of 22-year-old Seattleite Will Toledo, is going
down, it’s going down swinging. A collection of
rambunctiously old-school garage rock, the album
doesn’t so much as capture the desolate moments
of loneliness as it does the absurd ones, when our
thoughts are left to wander to old records, bad TV
shows, questionable money-making schemes, and
better-off friends. The more depressed Toledo gets,
the more deadpan his observations become. He’s
embarrassed for his own sad self, and he’s inviting
us to the pity party. Welcome to heartbreak, sure,
but heartbreak at its most self-deprecating.
MUSIC
Throughout, the production
is rudimentary—the guitars, at
times, sound as if they’re going
to blow-out the speakers—and
matches Toledo’s sarcastically
whimsical personality. Despite
the desperation of some of the
subject matter, a weightlessness
informs the songs, which attempt
to marry full-blast guitars with
swooning melodies. It’s a proven
formula. Toledo even namechecks
R.E.M.. Early 80s low-fi
gets celebrated, as does the
turn-it-up and then tune-it-out
style of Guided By Voices. The
format usually only works when
an artist has a personality, and
Toledo’s pinpoint observations
show us the ridiculous side of
moping.
Are we to laugh or cry?
Maybe both on “No Passion.” All
seems lost at the start. A ticktock
drum sets the pace, and
a singsong vocal that sounds
recorded through an empty
Campbell’s soup can creates
an alone-on-the-bedroom floor
atmosphere. Toledo’s fuzzy,
burnt-out guitars are toneddown
and thoughts of suicide
(don’t worry, Toledo dubs it
“embarrassing”) run through his
mind. But instead of taking a turn
for the dark, the music swells and
amateur background harmonies
arrive like the morning light.
As the song reaches its finale,
Toledo wonders what the heck
he’s doing. What’s he doing,
exactly? He’s trying and failing to
watch porn. “There’s too much
sunlight shining on my laptop
monitor,” he sings. (continued)
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November 2015 45