It’s absolutely clear what the best TV show of the decade is. It is, of course, BoJack Horseman. Nowhere else on television have the issues of depression, responsibility, and celebrity been tackled in such a clever, entertaining way. I could go on and on about my love for BoJack Horseman, but the important thing is this: one of the most compelling storylines involves lazy and rather dim-witted slacker Todd Chavez trying to finish a rock opera. How it all ends – in classic BoJack style with sabotage, addiction and disappointment – is irrelevant here. The point is that the rock opera concept is used to denigrate a person’s (seemingly) ridiculous ambitions. The point is that rock operas have long been considered silly, and not just since BoJack Horseman.
The Scholars
Car Seat Headrest have now released a new album, The Scholars. And yes, it is a rock opera. How cool. But first, a few steps back, to the beginning. Will Toledo is the man behind Car Seat Headrest. He released a series of lo-fi albums on Bandcamp in the early to mid-2010s. It was a lot of music, and the word ambition was very important to him from the beginning. Anyway, in 2015 he released Teens of Style, a compilation that revived old songs from the Bandcamp era, before his breakthrough came a year later with Teens of Denial. The music on it is indie rock, taking the second part of the genre’s name very seriously: Everything on it was catchy and downright anthemic, ambitious anyway.
For Toledo, drug use does not lead to transcendental moments, but rather to discomfort.
What’s more, Toledo, who wore horn-rimmed glasses, was completely unassuming. As a rather unrocky guy who nevertheless made the best rock music of his time and captured the feelings of young people in a humorous way – he always seemed overwhelmed by the world – he appealed especially to those kids who spent all day on the Internet. Because Toledo’s aesthetic is not based on coolness at all: he doesn’t wear a leather jacket and talk about wild women while smoking, but about being constantly worried. »Half the time I want to go home« is the title of Teens of Denial. For Toledo, drug use does not lead to transcendental moments, but rather to discomfort. That is modern.
Accidental epic was yesterday
This was followed in 2018 by the re-recorded remake of the queer, humanity-seeking masterpiece Twin Fantasy, an album originally released on Bandcamp in 2011 – probably the defining release of the Bandcamp era – before the true successor to Teens of Denial, Making a Door Less Open, was released in 2020. Will Toledo wore a gas mask and replaced his buzzing electric guitars with electronic sounds for the most part. Even the title suggests a kind of retreat. The connection that the fans had to Car Seat Headrest was at least not intensified here – rather the opposite. The songs were worse, and even worse: they didn’t add up to a coherent work, even though Car Seat Headrest were known for that. Even before their rock opera.
This brings us to The Scholars. The story of this rock opera takes place at the fictional Parnassus University. There are also a large number of student characters from whose point of view the songs are sung. The plot of The Scholars is not the point here – I’m sure there are already nerdy videos explaining it – because the fact that Will Toledo and the rest of Car Seat Headrest decided to write a concept album about being a college student is interesting enough: As described, sharing experiences about being young has always been a hobby of Toledo’s; however, you don’t stay young forever. So with The Scholars, a reality has been created in which you can continue to write about student topics.
That was the appeal of Car Seat Headrest: that there was someone who seemed as introverted as they were, but who could write such epic bangers.
What’s fundamentally different is that the record no longer sounds raw and lo-fi, but highly produced and, well, pretty proggy. Will Toledo no longer plays the guy who shouldn’t be able to write such bombastic rock songs, but somehow manages it anyway. That was the appeal of Car Seat Headrest (especially for young online kids): that there was someone who seemed as introverted as they were, but who could write such epic bangers. No, The Scholars doesn’t even sound amateurish, every note is right, everything is worked out. But it’s not the case that music gets better just because it’s better made.
Related reviews
Rock operas have become a rarity, not only because they are now considered uncool and silly, but also because they are extremely difficult to realize. Nothing is more embarrassing than a rock opera where the songs don’t work individually, where the music doesn’t live up to the bombast of the project. Ambitious projects need ambitious choirs. And The Scholars may not have the amateurish DIY charm of Teens of Denial or Twin Fantasy, but it convinces with enough great moments: »You can love again, if you try again,« for example, while I raise my fist to the sky. It could also be one of those heartbreaking quotes from BoJack Horseman.
