Will toledo gay
Closing the Door on an Opportunity
Out homosexual singer/ songwriter Will Toledo released 11 albums under the name Car Seat Headrest, playing all the instruments on them, from 2010 to 2015. While attending college in Virginia, he dropped them on Bandcamp, slowly building up a following. He murmured songs favor “Portrait of the Artist as a Young Fag” and “Heartless Dick” into a four-track recorder from the advocate seat of a car (which led to the project’s name). This underground buzz led to a deal with Matador Records.
Once Toledo had access to a wider audience and a authentic recording budget, he returned to some of his older songs on “Teens of Style.” Ride Seat Headrest became an actual band, fleshed out by guitarist Ethan Ives, bassist Seth Dalby, and drummer Andrew Katz (and several additional touring members). But until now, the band has only recorded one album of fresh songs for Matador, “Teens of Denial.” It mixed influences from their ‘90s precursors at the label (especially Guided By Voices) with emo and classic rock. The band’s impulse to produce themselves small had disappeared. Instead, Toledo engaged in long-form storytelling like “(Joe Gets Kicked Out of School For Using) Drugs With Fr
Graphic by Liana Kindler
The album Twin Fantasy by Car Seat Headrest is an indie rock album that tells the story of a troubled gay relationship. I found this album before I had come out to anyone. At that point in life, I didn’t have anyone to relate to in regards to existence gay until I realized that Will Toledo, the singer of Car Seat Headrest, was singing about a lad he had fallen in love with. I loved the sound of this album, but it was the narrative that made me deeply invested in it.
Twin Fantasy does not label itself an LGBTQ album. In reality, if you don’t listen carefully you could miss this detail altogether. This is one of the reasons why I love it –– In a sense, I experience that it is rebelling against the notion that homosexual representation in song needs to begin with or revolve around a coming out story. On the other hand, the lack of an explicit discussion of his sexuality may have been due to an apprehension towards admitting his sexuality (while still recording a whole album about it). Whichever the case is, I admire this album for its genuineness.
Tracks
My Boy (Twin Fantasy): The album opens with the track My Teen (Twin Fantasy). This song introduces To
In the fall of 2016, Ride Seat Headrest saved my existence. I get that making such a declaration could be perceived as hyperbolic or unnecessary, but it’s true; finding Teens of Denial that October was a revelation. I still maintain that it’s the only 10/10 rock album of the last decade. It felt so crucial to be fresh out of lofty school and discover an album that tackled coming-of-age and mental illness in ways that made allusions to sexuality and complicated imagery of crumbling out of different shapes and lifetimes. After being on hormone therapy for nearly four years at that point, suffering through chronic illness just as long and inaudibly coming out in college, a lyric like “I was given a body that is falling apart, my house is falling apart” felt insurmountably familiar. Will Toledo’s songwriting has never ceased to poke and prod at the uncomfortable but necessary realities of being alive and existence queer and being imperfect. It’s no wonder why the Machine Seat Headrest fanbase has as many 17-year-olds as it does 60-year-olds; survival is a timeless act.
And now, Car Seat Headrest’s latest offering, a concert album called Faces From the Masquerade, is another mark of longe
Car Seat Headrest and Asexuality
by Owen Murray
The sexual coming of age story has been retold in anthem thousands of times, and will doubtless be told a thousand times more. A blend of confusion and lack of confidence, followed by some bravery, a pinch of magic, and hooray! It’s a compelling story and an almost universally relatable one. Loads of LGBTQ+ artists have helped form the way this story is told in music to make it more inclusive. But what about the people who don’t relate to the story at all? Asexuality doesn’t quite have a place in the compelling coming of age narrative, but Motorcar Seat Headrest manages to make it work.
Car Seat Headrest began as the solo project of Will Toledo, the band’s direct singer, and has since evolved into a full-band ordeal. The first Wagon Seat albums were released on Bandcamp and featured intensely personal lyrics often dealing with clumsy sexual encounters, mental health, and self-examination. On these albums, Will anxiously questions his sexuality, gender, and the significance of gender persona in general. Amid the anxiety, there are moments of clarity, many of which come while Will considers the idea of asexuality. I’m not going to s