Written by Spike Sidor

MAKING A DOOR LESS OPEN

Car Seat Headrest Making a Door Less Open Review Album Cover

CAR SEAT HEADREST

2020 INDIE-ROCK/ELECTRONIC/SYNTH-POP

Making a Door Less Open is certainly not the first album by sometimes solo indie rock band Car Seat Headrest. This is the follow-up to their breakout 2016 record Teens of Denial; the frontman of the band, Will Toledo, had been making in relative obscurity lo-fi rock tinged with existential dread and his personable and introspective lyrics for years prior under the Car Seat Headrest name but these days they are on the tips of the tongues of every fashionable thrift store shopping private liberal arts school vegan in the country. Besides the switch to cleaner professional production their style has been fairly consistent, expansive indie rock tunes that can be catchy and fun, calm and contemplative, and epic and cathartic. The real signature of the band is Toledo’s unique vocal quality, monotone but capable of exploding into raw emotion at any moment, as well as winding structures that can build and shift in ways that surprise for the genre and can lead to lengthy odysseys in the upward of the teens in runtime.

Going into this album Toledo appeared in promotions as his newly invented alter ego Trait, which is just him in a gas mask with comical LEDs adorning it. Perhaps this was done humorously, maybe Toledo was rejecting his new found fame, or was this to signal a stylistic shift for the band. The change to their music is noticeable but not revolutionary, there are electronic instrumentation and influences, more keys, more synths, more experimentation. The results are mixed, the wildly new songs are often poorly executed, at best amounting to just okay admirable efforts, and the classic form ranges from solid quality to watered down concepts. The opener, Weightlifters, is familiar territory with a bit of spice, it has the usual rock instrumentation with added plinking and twinkling synths and a constant buzzing undercurrent. The lyrics are on point and the chorus hits the mark as well. It goes back and forth on wanting to change your appearance and at the same time believing you are changed to make it so, maybe through sheer will, maybe through the action that the belief creates.

Can’t Cool Me Down sees the band diving head first into synth pop with great success, i especially love the bright synths and backing vocals that come in at about two minutes in that explodes into the second verse. I am a bit lukewarm on the echoing chorus, it’s serviceable but the flat delivery of “Can’t Cool me Down” repeated does nothing for me. Deadlines (Hostile) goes to full straight forwards indie rock, verse chorus verse structure, a rock solid instrumental, and catchy verse; nothing mind blowing but it’s quite good. Hollywood is easily my favorite track, it’s completely unexpected, and ridiculously fun. A big old fashioned guitar riff forms the base and drummer Andrew Katz provides additional vocals that are growled and yelled with some terrific punk energy. The topic is one heavily trodden, they are railing against the disgusting exploitative nature of Hollywood but some great lyrics and performances carry it as well as the chorus,

Hollywood makes me want to puke!

 it’s perfect. Hymn is a fast paced ride with swirling synths, bass and an organ of all things; it’s an idea that goes nowhere, a very underdeveloped track. Martin is an unbelievably by the numbers song, it sounds like Toledo read the text book on how to make an indie track and followed it religiously. It neglects the band’s lyrical and stylistic strengths to make something utterly forgettable. The second Deadlines is a steady house inspired track with pulsing electronics, it’s unmemorable, anyone who has dipped their toes in electronic music has probably heard an instrumental exactly like this but better, the blasé hook doesn’t do it any favors either. What’s With You Lately barely exists, they switch vocalists off both Toldeo and Katz to a band member with the least distinct delivery on a bare bones acoustic track that says fuck all and stands out like a sore thumb in the listing. Why this made the cut is beyond me. Life Worth Missing is traditional Car Seat Headrest but simply a mediocre effort with lower quality lyrics, composition and performances, feels more like a cut track from Teens of Denial. There Must Be More Than Blood is a heart felt slow burner with great lyrics about being in a foreign place and going back home to an unwelcome environment, blood could be referring to family or to our physical shapes in this world. I particularly enjoy this bit on the bridge. 

And it wasn’t for love that you went back home
It was the guilt in your throat like you swallowed a bone
They had all of your life to get it right
They had all of that time just to change their minds
And you’re grateful for the bus, it’s a place to sit down
Like a spider in the winter trying not to be found
No use trying to heal when you’re getting stepped on
No use selling your soul when you’re getting passed on

This track definitely should have been the closer to the album, it fits the bill perfectly the way the synths, drums and bass slowly fade out. Instead, the final track is Famous, oddly one of the most experimental ones on the record. There are synthetic vocals low in the mix skipping strangely and cool “ah-ahs” that flank arpeggiated synths. The lyrics are a nonentity, despite the production building intrigue it drops dead two and a half minutes in, another concept that could use more time in the workshop. Making a Door Less Open is a heavily front loaded album and highly uneven in all regards. It doesn’t feel like a singular work, it’s more akin to a lost B-sides album; like half of the material recorded diligently with some old scraps from a few years back thrown in. It’s good to hear Car Seat Headrest spreading their sonic wings but this one misses the mark. 

4/10

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