Will Toledo's sonic safari
Car Seat Headrest's self-aware, straight-forward rock refreshes the most zonked ears
Will Toledo doesn’t mess with frills. During a recent phone interview with CL, when asked how he pulled off 13 albums by age 23, his response was frank: “I recorded 13 albums before I was 23.” OK! After a little probing, though, the guy who helms lo-fi rock quartet Car Seat Headrest revealed further evidence to an easy hunch — this kid plainly has an eye on the prize.
“It’s not super difficult if that’s what you’re focused on,” he adds from Seattle’s Wedgwood neighborhood. “I wasn’t doing too much touring or live performance at the time and I did several albums — one year — and then after that pretty much just averaged an album a year. And that was my creative endeavor for the past six years so it makes sense to me that it’s adding up.”
The newest addition to Toledo’s impressive discography (age aside), May’s Teens of Denial (Matador Records), falls in line with the countless Guided by Voices and other '90s college rock radio references Car Seat begs. That’s not to say it isn’t still engaging, remarkable in its brain stickiness and power pop sensibilities. Denial also marks Toledo’s first studio-recorded release with a full band, headed by a producer — and not just any producer, but Seattle scene heavyweight Steve Fisk. “(Joe Gets Kicked Out of School for Using) Drugs With Friends (But Says This Isn't a Problem)” has a lazy, chilled-out cadence, Toledo talk-singing about the last time he tried psychedelics (and hated it) in a very Stephen Malkmus manner. Vulnerability drips in “1937 State Park,” howling through the lines: “I didn’t want you to hear/ That shake in my voice/ My pain is my own.”
Singles “Just What I Wanted/Not Just What I Needed” and “Vincent” jilt the otherwise heady album, two welcome diversions down more frenetic, amped up lanes. Overall, the self-aware album is a 12-track shoegaze-tinged rock safari through typical early adulthood struggles, backdropped by a fertile jungle thick with thunderous, fuzzy guitars.
Catch Toldeo and the gang as the van rolls to a stop at Terminal West. Consider bringing along earplugs. Such brutal honesty can get loud.
Teens Of Denial by Car Seat Headrest
Car Seat Headrest plays Terminal West on Fri., Sept. 9. $15-$17. 8 p.m. With The Lemon Twigs. 887 West Marietta St. Studio C. 404-876-5566. www.terminalwestatl.com.