The story of how I got into Car Seat Headrest is such a classic story that I'm sure everybody who has ever set foot in a record shop has at least one similar story. In July 2016, I was in Brighton for the annual Develop Conference and was nursing a fairly heavy hangover from a party on the first night (a hangover that would pale in comparison to the one I had the next day). I was working out of the Brighton office and decided to go to Resident Records in my lunch break. It was a few minutes walk from the office and I'd formed a habit of going regularly when I was visiting there.
It was a sunny day and for the whole time I was in there they were playing this Car Seat Headrest album - I must have heard most of it because I was in there for nearly the whole hour. I'd heard the band name before but never heard the music, or even knew what sort of music they played. My first memory is thinking that it sounded like Pavement (and I'm a strong believer that Pavement is sunny day music). I remember also getting hints of Jeffrey Lewis, which worked well with the Pavement themes. The third thing I noticed was a steady stream of people going up to the counter to ask what was playing - it was like that Belle & Sebastian scene in High Fidelity. I loved that everybody was equally bowled over by the music. I'm capable of seeing the "now playing" sign from a distance, so didn't need to ask myself, but did add this copy of the album to my pile and went to the counter to pay up. The person who served me commented on how many people were getting into Car Seat Headrest just from them playing them over the stereo. It's such a great way to discover a band.
I knew I was going to enjoy the album because I'd heard most of it in Resident that lunchtime, but I still played it first when I got home and loved it even more. I then text a bunch of friends who were into Pavement to tell them to give it a play. They mostly fell in love too. It was a big album that summer and ended the year as my #2 album of the year (behind Radiohead, which is a pretty good place to be). There was a lot of hype around Will and the band, but I'd say it was totally justified. This is an excellent album.
There's a run of songs - Vincent, Destroyed By Hippie Powers, Drugs With Friends, Not What I Needed and Drunk Drivers/Killer Whales - that could all be the best song on the album. I remember making a mixtape and shortlisting all of them, before eventually settling on Drugs With Friends - Drunk Drivers/Killer Whales was a close second - both having huge outros that you just want to sing along to. That makes for a pretty strong first half of the album. The Ballad of Costa Concordia is incredible too, its charm partly coming from its ridiculous length (which is also why it didn't get shortlisted for the mixtape), partly from the way it drifts between stupid teenage choices and the responsibility of making sure a giant cruise ship doesn't run aground off the coast of Italy - an unusual pairing by anyone's standards.
Format: Double 12", gatefold, picture sleeves
Tracks: 12
Cost: £20 new
Bought: Resident Records, Brighton
When: 13/07/16
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: Download code
