Making a Door Less Open
| Car Seat Headrest
Making a Door Less Open
On February 26, 2020, Car Seat Headrest announced their first studio album consisting of wholly new material since 2016's Teens of Denial, Making a Door Less Open. This announcement coincided with the release of "Can't Cool Me Down", the first single and second track off the album, and a release date of May 1, 2020. -Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
Show All-
PopMatters
Car Seat Headrest push their lo-fi signature into newly polished (and labyrinthine) space on Making a Door Less Open. The result is a glittering look at our everyday fantasies, our patterns of style and denial.
-
Pitchfork
it feels like a project in which Toledo followed his own artistic credo: commit yourself completely. 6.6/10
-
Stereogum
Toledo has made an album that’s bleary, empathetic, desperate, and at times a little messy.
-
Rolling Stone
Car Seat Headrest’s ‘Making a Door Less Open’ Follows a Forked Path to a Big Emotional Payoff. 3.5/5
-
mxdwn
Making A Door Less Open is Car Seat Headrest’s best album to date. Few artists can, and will, respond to success as bravely as Will Toledo just has. As one door closes another one flings open.
-
Paste Magazine
Will Toledo misfires for the first time in his storied career on Making A Door Less Open.
-
SLUG Magazine
While Car Seat Headrest’s modern discography has previously been characterized by the reworking of old material, Making a Door Less Open is an actual reinvention of the band’s sound and the frontman’s persona.
-
Gigwise
The most diverse range of styles we’ve ever received in one album from the band. 7/10
-
NME
Toledo’s band have pulled into new areas with sophistication. Will this collection alienate meat-and-potatoes fans, as that knowing album title suggests? Perhaps – but it’s unlikely the band will care. Far from experiencing growing pains, Car Seat seem to have had a lot of fun here. 4/5
-
The Indiecator
Car Seat Headrest took a leap of faith with Making a Door Less Open, and really landed firm. 8/10
-
The Guardian
The question of what Car Seat Headrest were aiming for hangs over an album defined more by what it isn’t than what it is: neither balls-out, show-me-the-money capitulation to market forces, nor boldly experimental enough to count as a disruption to a mainstream form; neither disaster nor triumph. 3/5
-
The Revue
Car Seat Headrest turn self-doubt, remorse, and regret into a cathartic experience on their rich and expansive new album, ‘Making a Door Less Open’.
-
The Firenote
Making A Door Less Open lets the isolation and paranoia of these days feel normal. It is a headphone album that you hear new pieces with on every listen and I think has an early Beck like vibe that I liked. This laid back experimental delivery works and even though the record is a totally different artistic avenue for the band, I think the risk was worth taking for Car Seat Headrest and even more so worth checking out. 4/5
-
RIOT
Making a Door Less Open sees CSH subbing out much of their guitar for synths, whilst keeping all of their jagged, lo-fi presence. This album is a fitting stride in an ongoing transformation; from solo bedroom project, to US festival mainstays, to underdog icons. 5/5
-
Pop Goes the Weasel
It’s peculiar, it’s obtuse, it’s interesting, it’s ameturish. It’s ok. But, like Toledo says, It’s not shallow and it’s not deep – and the middle ground is no place for Car Seat Headrest. 6/10
-
Backseat Mafia
Car Seat Headrest have delivered a collection of songs that show you can leap a chasm in one jump as long as you are brave enough to imagine it. 7/10
-
Soundigest
This release by Car Seat Headrest will make you stop and think about your past, future and spirituality. It’s an impressive lyrical and instrumental feat and a wild ride worth taking at least once.
-
Uproxx
Making A Door Less Open is an enjoyable enough indie-pop record that for now, sadly, won’t be heard in the large theaters and festival spaces it was designed to dominate.
-
Sputnik Music
It’s amateurish and awkward at times, sure, and it doesn’t always work, but its expressive and endearing in equal measure: the disjointed and elusive by-product of a free spirit; less motive, more feeling; less conscious, more inspired. It’s Will, quirks and all, and that’s enough. 4/5
-
Indie is not a Genre
it’s mixed with a born-to-fail perfectionism, emotionally bare by comparison, but its keenness to change gifts it integrity. 3.5/5
-
Spill Magazine
There is so much to experience on this album, so many layers, so many possibilities and that is truly the most memorable aspect of it. It is more of an open channel and less of a well-tried convention, Making A Door Less Open has actually worked in the opposite direction to its title, opening the band to any direction that it chooses going forward. 4/5
-
Narc Magazine
With every album Toledo seems to grow in confidence, both as a songwriter and as a performer and this more intimate, tender record is no exception. The release shows the band depart from their typical abrasive sound favouring a mature stylistic change that sees them experimenting musically and sharpening lyrically. 4/5
-
Epigram
despite a few solid tracks, it’s hard not to feel as though the band were asleep at the wheel.
-
Beats Per Minute
Toledo has realised that he can take the band’s sound anywhere he can imagine – and that’s exactly what he’s done on Making A Door Less Open. 85/100
-
The AU Review
While not his strongest release, Making a Door Less Open is enjoyable enough to listen to in its entirety. It’s not an album of singles, so be sure to give it a listen in its entirety. It’s bizarre at times, while at other times pretty bloody good. 3.5/5
-
The Alternative
On this record, Car Seat Headrest definitely delivers more experimentation and departures from their previous guitar-driven sound. Incorporating new instrumentation and emphasis on lyricism, the band made a really interesting record on Making A Door Less Open. A unique stand-alone record in their discography.
-
Loud and Quiet
It sounds like a trusted friend holding out their hand to lead listeners towards the unfurling future, both scared, but at least together through it all. 9/10
-
No Ripcord
And still, with all of the grand but empty ambitions, stylistic question marks, and underwritten but solid songs, Car Seat Headrest is still too smart, too catchy, too excellent to make this album worth shrugging off completely. 7/10
-
The Arts Fuse
Car Seat Headrest’s drive to show us something fresh permeates Making a Door Less Open, and that is admirable.
-
Stereoboard
As a result, the new album sounds more experimental, and there’s a disjointed feel. Always an eclectic source of entertainment, Toledo's music was generally a vivid whistle-stop tour of his influences. 3.5/5
-
The Times
breakout moment for indie star. 4/5
-
Hot Press
While the post-genre approach is occasionally jarring, moving from heavy electronica to stripped-back acoustic guitar, Making A Door Less Open's journey is compelling nonetheless.
-
I News
At the heart of this album is an existential yearning and sadness which makes you conversely fiercely happy to be alive. 4/4
-
Radio 13
There is no doubt that with Making A Door Less Open, Car Seat Headrest have taken a bold step in trying a more electronic sound but it seems to have mostly paid off. 3.5/5
-
Afterglow
Making a Door Less Open is the least compelling Car Seat Headrest album since Will Toledo’s Bandcamp releases a decade ago. Despite the overall lack of enthusiasm for this project, this is likely a temporary misstep for the band.
-
Live4ever
You can always work harder, but sometimes you need little help from your friends, even when that friend is you. Making A Door Less Open is proud of its flaws, and if Will Toledo can’t fix them, nobody else can. 6.5/10
-
Slant Magazine
Overflowing with adventurous new ideas, the album has opened up seemingly infinite new paths for Toledo to follow going forward. 4/5
-
Clash Magazine
It isn’t the death of the album. But it’s an intriguing exploration of what it can mean to the modern ear. And in these fragmented, isolated times, when it’s a struggle to feel part of anything? 7/10
-
Vinyl Chapters
The confidence and swagger is still apparent throughout, and the new ideas, brighter sounds and tailored electro-edge really highlight what this band can be. The best bands manage to transition, chop and change whilst still being themselves, and that’s exactly what Toledo et al have done with Making a Door Less Open. 4.5/5
-
Happy Magazine
In many ways, this represents an ultimate elusiveness. Refusing to be any one thing, the album exists in numerous manifestations. Whilst Car Seat Headrest continue to evolve towards a more refined sonic palette, this prevailing ambiguity points to the very heart of what makes the band what it is.
-
WNUR
Despite not clearing the pay-off of experimentation through every track of the album, Toledo succeeded in his determination to drop the weight of fame and simply commit himself to creating — both a new album and a new persona.
-
Our Culture
Not too dissimilar in style from fellow mask-wearing, genre-mixing alternative duo Twenty One Pilots, Car Seat Headrest’s latest presents itself as the classic ‘indie rock band experimenting with electronic production’ album, from the droning synths that open ‘Weightlifters’ to straight-up EDM jams like ‘Deadlines (Thoughtful)’. 3/5
-
The Cosmic Clash
Making a Door Less Open marks a significant point of creative growth for Car Seat Headrest. It will make you laugh, think, and dance while channeling a vast array of concepts and emotion, blending into a brilliant mosaic of sound.
-
Newcastle Herald
Making A Door Less Open is more playful than Teens Of Denial. 3.5/5
-
Underscore Part 3
Making A Door Less Open is Car Seat Headrest’s most ambitious project yet and works as a statement that the band will continue to develop and intertwine what made them great to start with new, exciting ideas. It seems that going forward each project will not always be for everyone, but it will always be brave, and always be worth a listen. 8/10
Rate This Album and Leave Your Comments