Car Seat Headrest – Gethsamene Review

Five years on from their previous studio album and Car Seat Headrest returns with a bold statement of intent. An eleven-minute slice of their rock opera, The Scholars, can be heard and seen on the release of Gethsemane. What a welcome occasion it is when a band blurs the line, when they can segment the wider creative process into bite-sized chunks. Still a formidable slice, the powerhouse lead single, Gethsemane, is exactly what Car Seat Headrest needed. Those well-versed in their Bible studies, or those of us who went to Catholic school for over a decade, will no doubt know of Gethsemane. To hear it as a piece of this rock opera is a wild approach, and it should be expected of Car Seat Headrest. Their commentaries, the burning anxieties and raging passions, all come to a head on this rock opera piece. 

Devotion in the modern world is blurred with the acceptance of the Lord in a primitive past. Dishes, prayer, it is interchangeable for Car Seat Headrest as they find the mundane parts of life not a place of hidden thrills but something to move from, to counter when encountered. Self-liberation is a guiding force from Car Seat Headrest here. Do what you can to free yourself from expectation. Gethsemane may mention the garden at the Mount of Olives, but its interest lay not in the natural oils and nature, but what we lose when not a part of the outside world. What Car Seat Headrest fears is what we should all fear. They do incredibly well with the tone of Gethsemane, the punchy and rhythmic guitars backing a vocal rush, a sense of desperation to come from trying and trying again. There is no harm in loving once more, be it for the self or another, and Gethsemane uses this as a daring and often satisfying message.  

To try again is the devotion Car Seat Headrest comments on. The Scholars’ lead single maintains a rock opera-like tone which, even in isolation from the rest of the album, sounds magnificent. Well thought percussion, little flickers of instrumental envy appear and are quite unlike anything the band has provided before. This is their next step. A bold risk, whatever the outcome. Whatever the case, it is a strong moment for a band who found new life on the stage just a few years ago. Gethsemane is a continuation of that liberation, that fury for playing they found after being prevented by a pandemic. Instrumental breaks heard throughout Gethsemane provide some of the very best guitar work the Will Toledo-fronted band has offered.  

A message of sincerity repeated, again and again marks a strong start for the return of Car Seat Headrest. It is their fundamental belief in it that sticks long after a first listen. Gethsemane is a bold and brash statement of intent from the band. A welcome yet defiant moment for a group whose live album two years ago showed no hint of rock opera. Gethsemane feels both sincere and surprising, a push for something else from a band usually dealing with the charms of noise pop. Car Seat Headrest are keen to experience a new sound, a fresh style for their work. Gethsemane commits to its religious background, its subtext not as clear as it likely will be on full release, but still bright enough to shine through as a song worth its length, blurring the divine with the self-dedication needed in the modern world.