Nervous Young Man
| Nervous Young Man | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | August 23, 2013 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 129:23 | |||
| Label | Self-released | |||
| Producer | Will Toledo | |||
| Car Seat Headrest chronology | ||||
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Nervous Young Man is the eighth solo album by American musician Will Toledo under the alias Car Seat Headrest. It was self-released via Bandcamp on August 23, 2013, and is the band's final album as a solo project.[1] A double album clocking in at two hours and nine minutes, it is the band's longest album, features "tracks written from ages 17 to 21", and was conceived as "greatest hits" album despite containing almost completely all-new songs.[2] The title of the album and three of the tracks come from Toledo's high school project, Nervous Young Men.
Recording and release[edit]
Will Toledo began recording Nervous Young Man after releasing Car Seat Headrest's seventh album, Monomania. While working on the album, Toledo released many songs being considered for the album online during Christmas 2012, and had his Macbook Pro hard drive crash days before the album was due to release on Bandcamp, which required him to ask people who downloaded the Christmas tracks to email them back to him in order to finish uploading the album before it released.
Upon release, if purchased for more than five dollars, the album came with an outtakes compilation, Disjecta Membra.[3][4] Toledo no longer sends out the compilation, however it can be found on YouTube and other sources.
According to Toledo, what would eventually become the project's eleventh album Teens of Denial began as a response to this record.[5] Elaborating, Toledo stated:
“I think people just had a hard time listening to it because it was so long, on a personal level, I kind of disliked it because a lot of the songs were more interested in songcraft than emotional engagement. I felt like I couldn’t engage with it as soon as the album was done. I struggle to make every song a deep reflection of myself and something I can connect to intimately. But that took a long time to come into shape, even though I know what I wanted to do. Usually knowing what you want to do does take longer to come into shape because you have to reject more material"[5]
Reception[edit]
Sean Elliot of The Daily Album praised the record. Specific highlights included opener "Boxing Day", which they described as 15-minute "coming of age epic" with begins as a "electric/psychedelic rock banger" that eventually begins to move "back and forth between acoustic guitar and vocal confessions, raucous, distorted electric rock interludes, drunken, reverberated rambles ala Johnny Cash, crunchy, electro rock, and somber organ and electronic percussion". Other highlights included "We Can’t Afford (Your Depression Anymore)”, "Don’t Remind Me”, "Afterglow”, and "Plane Crash Blues (I Can’t Play The Piano)”. Overall, they described the album as massive, demanding, and intricate, being a "solid effort for such a young musician", stating that it is an excellent release.[6]
In a ranking of the band's work, Alexia Frederickson of SJSUNews placed Nervous Young Man third to last, stating that while a good record, it felt more like a box set than a studio album.[7]
Track listing[edit]
All tracks are written by Will Toledo unless stated.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Boxing Day" | 15:35 |
| 2. | "We Can't Afford (Your Depression Anymore)" | 4:45 |
| 3. | "Don't Remind Me" | 4:45 |
| 4. | "Homes" | 6:41 |
| 5. | "Afterglow" | 5:04 |
| 6. | "Jerks" | 5:30 |
| 7. | "Broken Birds (Rest in Pieces)" | 8:22 |
| 8. | "The Gun Song" (contains lyrics and elements of the song "Down by the River", written by Neil Young) | 16:05 |
| 9. | "Goodbye Love" | 1:48 |
| 10. | "I Can Play the Piano" | 5:20 |
| 11. | "Crows (Rest in Bigger Pieces Mix)" | 4:24 |
| 12. | "I Wanna Sweat" | 5:52 |
| 13. | "Burning Man" | 5:33 |
| 14. | "Dreams Fall Hard" | 6:31 |
| 15. | "Plane Crash Blues (I Can't Play the Piano)" | 5:43 |
| 16. | "Big Jacket" | 5:05 |
| 17. | "Death at the Movies" | 6:54 |
| 18. | "Jus' Tired" | 5:27 |
| 19. | "Some Strange Angel" | 5:49 |
| 20. | "Knife in the Coffee" (contains lyrics of the song "Time Has Come Today", written by Joe Chambers and Willie Chambers) | 4:26 |
| Total length: | 129:23 | |
Personnel[edit]
Car Seat Headrest
- Will Toledo – all vocals and instrumentation, except:
Additional personnel[2]
- Amanda Schiano di Cola – trumpet (1, 14–15, 18)
- JohnAugust – "the voice of law"
References[edit]
- ^ "Bandcamp Got Car Seat Headrest Signed. Your Favorite Indie Act May Be Next". Inverse. 2015-12-10. Retrieved 2024-04-30.
- ^ a b "Nervous Young Man, by Car Seat Headrest". Car Seat Headrest. Retrieved 2024-04-30.
- ^ carseatheadrest. "car seat headrest". Tumblr. Retrieved 2024-04-30.
- ^ "Replay: Car Seat Headrest's 'Disjecta Membra' is a Buried Treasure | The Loyola Phoenix". 2024-04-17. Retrieved 2024-04-30.
- ^ a b "Car Seat Headrest cover story: Will Toledo's 12-album overnight success story". Loud And Quiet. Retrieved 2024-04-30.
- ^ "Nervous Young Man by Car Seat Headrest | The Daily Album". web.archive.org. 2016-06-23. Retrieved 2024-04-30.
- ^ "SJSU News | Learn By Doing/ Excite Your Mind". sjsunews.com. Retrieved 2024-04-30.