Closing up Summer Festival season with a performance at Route du Rock 2017 by Car Seat Headrest. Recorded on August 18th by the venerable Radio France International. Car Seat Headrest, the brainchild of Will Toledo has rapidly become the new face of Indie in the U.S. – referred to as a cracked Pop Oddity with the emotional directness of Belle & Sebastian, Toledo has managed to gather a large (and growing larger) following.
With his first official big-kid label (Matador) record album released in 2015 (Teens of Style) reaching 19 on the U.S. charts, it further cemented the notion that Back Seat Headrest had arrived. Since then, it’s been Teens Of Denial, coming out in October of last year and further spreading the word via touring this summer. With a swing through the UK through September before coming back to the States for a series of Texas dates going through the month of October.
Car Seat Headrest has been described as the Indie band everyone has been waiting for. With Will Toledo’s gift for writing about the ironic and the jaded have landed him in the middle of many lively discussions on the future of Indie and why he is so important to that future. Well, at 23, he’s just getting started, even though he has some 8 albums previously self-released (from 2010 to 2013) to his credit, which would give him license to be a music veteran.
I am going on the hunch that most people reading this post are not familiar with Car Seat Headrest or Will Toledo, but I would imagine you’ve heard at least something about him. Here’s your opportunity to have a listen to figure out what the noise is all about. And fans will know this one anyway; the Route du Rock concert was a highpoint of the festival. And since there was no shortage of standouts this year – being a standout in that company is an accomplishment.
Crank it up and give it a listen.
