The Scholars (album)

The Scholars is the upcoming thirteenth album by American indie rock band Car Seat Headrest. It is scheduled for release on May 2, 2025 through Matador Records, and marks the first new material from the band since 2020.

The album was teased through an alternate reality game-style website that gradually revealed snippets of the track "Gethsemane". In contrast to the indietronica and standalone songs of their previous album, Making a Door Less Open, The Scholars has been promoted as a concept album and a rock opera, based around several characters who attend a university.

"Gethsemane", the first single, was released on March 4, 2025. "CCF (I'm Gonna Stay With You)", the second single, was released on April 2, 2025.

Background and recording

While on the band's 2022 North American Tour (also called the "Masquerade Tour"), frontman Will Toledo was diagnosed with COVID-19, along with drummer Andrew Katz. Toledo's condition later progressed into long COVID. After his health continued to deteriorate, Toledo cancelled the remainder of the band's tour dates in October 2022. During this time, the band considered disbanding for Toledo's health.

Toledo was later diagnosed with histamine intolerance, forcing him to adopt a restricted diet. Once his health began to improve in spring 2023, work on what would become The Scholars began with extended jam sessions in order to ease back into playing after a year off. With the jam sessions, the band's collaborative live dynamic was brought into the album's creative process, resulting in a higher sense of open collaboration between band members while writing and in the studio. Compared to previous Car Seat Headrest albums, where Toledo would bring solo demos to the band and flesh them out, The Scholars saw some songs originate from other members of the band. Notably, The Scholars is the first Car Seat Headrest album where the songwriting credits list the entire band as writers for all songs, rather than being written solely by Toledo.

As for his leadership role in the band's creative process, Toledo stated that he was "more of an organizer than the composer", and he felt his strengths lied in "prodding something that's already there into a direction that I see it going". Toledo encouraged guitarist Ethan Ives to take ownership of the sound design on the record, and Ives also co-wrote the song "Reality". Similar to other projects by the band, The Scholars was entirely self-produced by Toledo. However, unlike the band's previous albums, it was mostly recorded using analog equipment.

Concept

The Scholars is a rock opera and concept album that features a cast of characters. Its storyline takes place at a fictional college named "Parnassus University", which is home to "students and staff whose travails illuminate a loose narrative of life, death, and rebirth" and was founded by a "famed playwright" known as the Scop. "Gethsemane" follows a protagonist named Rosa. "CCF (I'm Gonna Stay With You)" follows a protagonist named Beolco who is "deeply fond" of the university and its founder. Beolco believes himself to be a reincarnation of the founder, and seeks confirmation of his beliefs.

The album also draws inspirations from a variety of sources, including Shakespeare, Mozart, classical opera, various Biblical and religious texts and albums such as Tommy by The Who and The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars by David Bowie. Themes of the album include "yearning, youth, and religious anxiety".

Release

Promotion for the album began on February 18, 2025 with an online alternate reality game-like "webquest" hosted on the Car Seat Headrest website. Users were able to solve puzzles themed around school subjects like science or mathematics in order to unlock snippets of an unreleased song. New puzzles were added regularly, which culminated in the full version of the track "Gethsemane" and the album cover for The Scholars being revealed on February 28. On March 4, 2025, "Gethsemane" premiered on BBC Radio 6, and was officially released as the album's lead single on streaming services, alongside the official album announcement and pre-order. The song was accompanied with a music video directed by Andrew Wonder, described as a "black-and-white short film". The album's second single, "CCF (I'm Gonna Stay With You)", was released on April 2, 2025 alongside a music video directed by longtime collaborator Cate Wurtz.

The album is scheduled for release on May 2, 2025 through Matador Records; five years and one day from the release of Making a Door Less Open. Physical deluxe versions of the album will include a bonus CD, titled Scholars: Early Hack, containing nineteen demos from The Scholars' recording sessions. A "conservatively planned" tour in support of the album was also announced, scheduled to start on May 16, 2025, and ending on November 1, 2025. The band aimed to space out their live shows to be considerate of Toledo's health.

Track listing

All songs are written by Car Seat Headrest.

Personnel

Credits adapted from the vinyl liner notes:

Car Seat Headrest

Will Toledo – vocals, piano, organ, wurlitzer, "some rhythm guitar"
Andrew Katz – drums, auxiliary percussion, vocals (track 8)
Ethan Ives – electric guitar, acoustic guitar, lead vocals (track 7, parts of track 8)
Seth Dalby – bass, synth and drum programming, group vocals (track 8)

Additional musicians