Purposeful But Dreamy

When Will Toledo signed with Matador Records earlier this year, he came armed with 11 previously recorded albums and an extensive library of dreamy-yet-purposeful lo-fi material that had already brought him a dedicated following on Bandcamp. After graduating from the College of William & Mary in 2014, the prolific songwriter and multi-instrumentalist behind Car Seat Headrest relocated to Seattle. It was in the Emerald City that Toledo was finally able to find “people who are not only good but also willing to put aside ego and play in a band together” after struggling to keep a group of students together while he was in school. Though he made his earlier independent albums by deftly manipulating Logic’s built-in synth sounds and a single Shure microphone, Toledo’s Matador debut, Teens Of Style, allowed him to deliver material taken from previously released albums, and re-record his songs in a studio with his new lineup for a wider audience. Now, Toledo has been focusing on translating the intricately layered, angst-driven inertia of his recorded material to a live setting, where “everything is a lot more stripped-down, basic and rock-and-roll,” which sits fine with him.