Car Seat Headrest Announce Bold New Rock Opera ‘The Scholars’
Car Seat Headrest return with The Scholars, a sweeping rock opera of transformation and rebirth.
Car Seat Headrest are back with The Scholars, their first studio album in five years, a sprawling rock opera that marks both a creative evolution and a personal rebirth for the band. Due out May 2 via Matador Records, the album explores themes of life, death, and transformation, unfolding within the fictional Parnassus University.
The announcement comes alongside the release of Gethsemane, an 11-minute, multi-part epic and short film directed by Andrew Wonder, which delves into the spiritual journey at the heart of the album.
Frontperson Will Toledo, alongside guitarist Ethan Ives, drummer Andrew Katz, and bassist Seth Dalby, last toured in 2022, finding a younger and more fervent audience thanks to the viral resurgence of songs like It’s Only Sex and Sober to Death. However, the tour was cut short when Toledo and Katz contracted COVID-19, leading to an extended period of illness for Toledo. This time of forced isolation led him to meditation and spiritual exploration, which deeply informed The Scholars.
“I never saw the institution of church as the place that holds God,” Toledo reflects. “Whether you call it spirituality or not, I see that same search for meaning in queer culture, in the furry community, in young people coming together to create something new.”
Inspired by an apocryphal poem attributed to “Archbishop Guillermo Guadalupe del Toledo,” The Scholars tells a loose narrative through its cast of students and staff at Parnassus University. The album’s influences range from classical opera to rock storytelling landmarks like The Who’s Tommy and David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust.
The album features some of the band’s most ambitious work to date, including the nearly 19-minute-long Planet Desperation and the soaring opener CCF (I’m Gonna Stay With You). Meanwhile, tracks like The Catastrophe (Good Luck With That Man) and Equals prove they’ve lost none of their knack for anthemic, hook-driven songwriting.
