Gethsemane- Car Seat Headrest
It's been nearly 5 years since Car Seat Headrest's extremely disappointing last LP, Making a Door Less Open, but a few weeks ago they returned with a promising new single called "Gethsemane", which is the first taste of their upcoming record, The Scholars. In classic CSH fashion, "Gethsemane" is a multi-suite epic that comes across like several disparate segments stitched together into a glorious sonic approximation of Frankenstein's monster. The ill-advised electronic touches, trite lyricism, and regressive song structures of MADLO are thankfully nowhere to be found here.
What we have on "Gethsemane" is that same strain of exhilarating, rafter-raising indie rock that CSH made their name on without feeling like leftovers from their iconic dishes of yesteryear. When frontman/band mastermind Will Toledo yelps "I can't run anymore" during the bridge before the arrangement erupts into a soaring progression, it almost feels a little too on the nose, but it's hard to argue with music this triumphant. "Gethsemane" is just shy of 11 minutes long, but it barely breaks a sweat throughout its marathon runtime. While certainly not one of their best songs, "Gethsemane" is a course correction of the highest caliber that bodes extremely well for the rest of TS.