Album Review: Car Seat Headrest, The Scholars

The Scholars is Car Seat Headrest’s 13th album – and perhaps their most ambitious yet. It’s billed as a “bold new rock opera… a new chapter for the premier standard bearers of young internet rockers.”

The concept is that the nine songs loosely follow the lives, hopes and dreams of the faculty and students at a fictional college, Parnassus University (the ‘scholars’ that give the album its title).

Calling this a rock opera might be a stretch – the songs themselves are oblique vignettes and snapshot character-studies that steer away from cohesion – but the opera concept is clearly a useful jumping-off point for the band. And, most importantly, the concept has given rise to some soaring, sonically ambitious songs.

Opener ‘CCF (I’m Gonna Stay With You)’ builds on energetic percussion and otherworldly singing on the part of Will Toledo, to keep you completely enthralled throughout its eight-and-a-half minutes. Similarly, the 10-minute ‘Gethsemane’ feels grungy and unhinged in all the right ways.

The band sometimes fall victim to their own ambition; the album’s propulsive energy runs out of steam, before picking up again for the finale. The effect is that some of the shorter songs, like ‘Lady Gay Approximately’ and ‘Equals’, lie somewhat forgettably in the middle.

Still, The Scholars is a compelling effort.

7/10