Car Seat Headrest (Photo by Carlos Cruz)
Car Seat Headrest released Making a Door Less Open, the band’s 12th studio album, in 2020 via Matador Records. Frontman Will Toledo and company have hit the road with a date at The Anthem on Saturday, April 2.
Created over the course of four years, Making a Door Less Open is the result of a fruitful “collaboration” between Car Seat Headrest, led by Will Toledo, and 1 Trait Danger, a CSH electronic side project consisting of drummer Andrew Katz and Toledo’s alternate persona, Trait.
In a statement, Will said he is wearing the mask of Trait for this project because he still gets nervous performing, the mask empowers honesty, and he would rather the performers and the audience look at the same thing.
He added, “Each track is the result of an intense battle to bring out its natural colors and transform it into a complete work. The songs contain elements of EDM, hip hop, futurism, doo-wop, soul, and of course rock and roll. But underneath all these things I think these may be folk songs, because they can be played and sung in many different ways, and they’re about things that are important to a lot of people: anger with society, sickness, loneliness, love…the way this album plays out is just our own interpretation of the tracks, with Andrew, Ethan, and I forming a sort of choir of contrasting natures.”
Watch the official lyric video for “Can’t Cool Me Down” by Car Seat Headrest on YouTube:
Comprised of Will Toledo, Andrew Katz (drums), Ethan Ives (guitar), and Seth Dalby (bass), Car Seat Headrest has either released 11 or three albums to date, depending on the way you look at it. A prolific songwriter, Toledo took his moniker from making early recordings in the private environment of his family’s car, releasing a dozen self-recorded and produced albums on Bandcamp and building a tight-knit following. Toledo has since gone from an empty five-seater to selling out tours and filling festival main stages. 2015’s Teens of Style was a collection of songs from his early years. The band’s proper Matador debut, Teens of Denial, followed in 2016 and catapulted them to overnight commercial success and widespread critical acclaim, as well as highlighting Toledo as a prodigious lyricist. 2018’s Twin Fantasy, an epic re-imagination of an album originally released in 2011, demonstrated newfound scale, depth, and ambition.
Car Seat Headrest
w/ Bartees Strange
The Anthem
Saturday, April 2
Doors @ 6:30pm
$35/$55
All ages