The Scholars

オルタナ/インディー・シーンで絶大な支持を得るカー・シート・ヘッドレストが最新作『The Scholars』を発表!
デヴィッド・ボウイの『Ziggy Stardust』の流れを踏襲した、バンドにとっての新境地となるロックオペラ作品!

米シアトルを拠点に活動し、フロントマンのウィル・トレドを中心にアンドリュー・カッツ(dr)、イーサン・イヴ(g)、セス・ダルビー(b)の4人から成るバンド、カー・シート・ヘッドレスト。17歳でトレドが音楽制作を始めた当初、家族が所有する車の中でレコーディングを行っていたことがバンド名の由来になったのだという。〈Matador Records〉からリリースを続ける彼らが、5年ぶりのスタジオ・アルバム『The Scholars』発売決定!

トレドはシェイクスピアやモーツァルト、古典オペラを下敷きに壮大な物語を練り上げつつ、ザ・フーの『Tommy』やデヴィッド・ボウイの『Ziggy Stardust』の流れを踏襲するロック・オペラの形式に挑戦している。プロットを優先しすぎて曲が犠牲になるのではなく、各楽曲が"キャラクター"となってそれぞれの見せ場を持つという構成が特徴だ。

さまざまな試練を経たカー・シート・ヘッドレストは、今や次のステージへと踏み出している。もともとはソロプロジェクトとして始まったが、今ではメンバー全員で音を紡ぎ出すバンドへと生まれ変わった。トレド自身も、パンデミック下で"繭"のように閉じこもった時間の中でメンバーとの結束を強め、ライブや制作、その他すべてが統合される実感を得ることができたと話す。その結晶が『The Scholars』という一つの作品となり、これまでのファンも新たに知る人々も、幾度も聴き返したくなる豊潤な世界が広がっている。

Plenty of talented people start writing songs and recording them using lo-fi technology and struggle to move beyond that barrier. Will Toledo is a very notable exception -- his early Car Seat Headrest recordings were charming in their wobbly sound and tentative performances, paired with emotionally resonant lyrics, but his ideas and abilities were too big to be contained by the small scale of his homemade projects. 2020s electronic-influenced Making a Door Less Open and the 2023 live set Faces from the Masquerade both found Toledo and his accompanists moving past a lo-fi mindset in search of music that would provide a stage big enough for the many things he wanted to say. 2025s The Scholars finds Toledo trying to go big the old-fashioned way -- putting together a great band and making a rock opera. If that sounds like a quaint 1970s notion in the post-indie era, it sure doesnt play that way. While most of Car Seat Headrests recordings either had him playing all the instruments or working with accompanists rather than real bandmates, The Scholars finds him working with musicians who sound like equals, even if Toledo is still clearly the leader, and guitarist Ethan Ives, bassist Seth Dalby, and drummer Andrew Katz are the tight, versatile, and skillful answer to Toledos search for a truer sound. Compared to Car Seat Headrests early work, the clarity, punch, and confidence of The Scholars is revelatory, almost like theyve leapt from lo-fi to prog rock, though Toledos melodies still bear a certain resemblance to his previous work. Theyre also willing to stretch out to prog-like length for this music; three of the nine songs are over ten minutes long, and one even cracks the eighteen-minute mark, and they do this without sounding padded or self-indulgent. The Scholars is not Toledos first concept album, but hes said this time he wanted to emphasize characters rather than a narrative through-line. Its hard to follow the story without a libretto, but the themes are consistent and eloquently expressed. Most of the characters are students or faculty at a fictional university, and the songs are full of young adults mature enough to have ideas and outlooks of their own while still struggling with the expectations of family and authority figures, looking for love and purpose as they make mistakes, struggle with the consequences, and are haunted by both the past and the future. Its heady stuff and takes far more chances than Toledo has permitted himself before. And he and his band miraculously pull it off -- the music is outstanding, the performances engrossing, and the great individual tracks cohere into a larger statement thats honestly moving in its intelligence and compassion. Toledo is young enough that its premature to call The Scholars a masterpiece, though its unquestionably his finest work to date and one of the best albums of 2025. ~ Mark Deming

現代のオルタナ・シーンで絶大な支持を誇るシアトルの4人組が実に5年ぶりとなったオリジナル・アルバムをリリース。今回はザ・フーの『Tommy』やデヴィッド・ボウイ〈Ziggy Stardust〉の流れを汲むロック・オペラというチャレンジングな作りになっていて、それぞれの楽曲が有機的に結び付いた全9曲を収録。バンドにとっての新境地となるキャッチーな意欲作だ。
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