Car Seat Headrest will release their new album, The Scholars, on May 2 via Matador Records. It’s their first new record since 2020’s Making a Door Less Open and finds them exploring the concept of a rock opera that revolves around themes of life, death, and rebirth.
The band enlisted director Andrew Wonder to handle the video (excuse me, short film) for epic lead single “Gethsemane”. The song is a big, bold cinematic eruption of frenetic riffs, wobbly electronics, and various prog-adjacent impulses — it’s a colossal initiation and one that remains swirling around in your head long after the music fades.
The band breaks down the short film: “Rosa studies at the medical school of Parnassus University. After an experience bringing a medically deceased patient back to life, she begins to regain powers suppressed since childhood, of healing others by absorbing their pain. Each night, instead of dreams, she encounters the raw pain and stories of the souls she touches throughout the day. Reality blurs, and she finds herself taken deep into secret facilities buried beneath the medical school, where ancient beings that covertly reign over the college bring forth their dark plans.”
Watch the video below and check out some of their upcoming tour dates.
Tour dates:
May 16 – Salt Lake City, UT – Kilby Block Party
June 7 – New York, NY – Governors Ball
June 28 – Washington, DC – The Anthem
July 12 – Denver, CO – Mission Ballroom
July 26 – Chicago, IL – Salt Shed (Fairgrounds)
August 8 – Los Angeles, CA – The Greek
September 12 – Philadelphia, PA – Highmark Skyline at the Mann Center
September 27 – Boston, MA – MGM Music Hall
November 1 – Oakland, CA – The Fox
The Scholars:
1. CCF (I’m Gonna Stay With You)
2. Devereaux
3. Lady Gay Approximately
4. The Catastrophe (Good Luck With That, Man)
5. Equals
6. Gethsemane
7. Reality
8. Planet Desperation
9. True/False Lover
The Scholars is due out May 2 on Matador Records. You can pre-order the album here. Follow the band on Facebook and Instagram.
