Twin Fantasy (Face to Face)

Twin Fantasy (Face to Face)
The cover is a retraced version of Toledo's original drawing for the original 2011 album.
Studio album by
Car Seat Headrest
ReleasedFebruary 16, 2018 (2018-02-16)
Recorded2016–17
Studio
GenreIndie rock[1][2]
Length71:16
LabelMatador
ProducerWill Toledo
Car Seat Headrest chronology
Teens of Denial
(2016) 		Twin Fantasy (Face to Face)
(2018) 		Commit Yourself Completely
(2019)
Singles from Twin Fantasy (Face to Face)
  1. "Beach Life-in-Death"
    Released: December 13, 2017
  2. "Nervous Young Inhumans"
    Released: January 9, 2018
  3. "Cute Thing"
    Released: January 23, 2018
  4. "My Boy (Twin Fantasy)"
    Released: February 6, 2018

Twin Fantasy (Face to Face) is the eleventh studio album by American indie rock band Car Seat Headrest, released on February 16, 2018. It is a complete full band re-recording and reworking of the band's sixth album, Twin Fantasy, originally released by then-solo artist Will Toledo in 2011.

Background

[edit]

Twin Fantasy began as a solo album recorded by Car Seat Headrest's lead singer/songwriter Will Toledo, and released as a pay-what-you-want download via Bandcamp on November 2, 2011, while Toledo was attending the College of William & Mary. In an interview with CityBeat, Toledo explained that due to his lack of resources, Twin Fantasy was unable to achieve the expansiveness he originally wanted, adding that, "it just never seemed like the book was closed on it".[3] When he first met with independent label Matador Records in 2015 before signing, Toledo expressed his intentions to rerecord the album in full, following the release of compilation album Teens of Style (2015) and studio album Teens of Denial (2016).[4]

Recording and release

[edit]

Recording for Twin Fantasy (Face to Face) began in 2016, with much of the instrumental work being recorded live by the band at Soundhouse in Seattle. Toledo's vocals were recorded separately by engineer Adam Stilson at Decade Music Studios in Chicago. Post production and mixing took place between Decade Music Studios and Will Toledo's apartment,[5][6] with most effects, stems and final mixes run through the studio's vintage mixing console. "Stop Smoking (We Love You)" was recorded by Toledo in his apartment.[4]

On December 13, 2017, the band released a re-recorded version of "Beach Life-In-Death" digitally without prior announcement. Fans began speculating that the album would be re-recorded and released soon afterwards.[7] On December 27, 2017, an Amazon listing detailing a re-recorded version of Twin Fantasy was found by fans, and subsequently uploaded to the Car Seat Headrest subreddit.[8] This was followed up by a listing on SRCVinyl.com with the date February 16, 2018,[9] which contained an abridged version of the Matador Records press announcement.[10]

On January 9, 2018, Matador officially announced the release of the re-recording, entitled Twin Fantasy (Face to Face), alongside a tour announcement and a music video for the single "Nervous Young Inhumans".[11] The album was released via Matador on February 16. The CD release of the album included both versions of the album, and a lyric booklet with art by Hojin "Stella" Jung. [12]

The original recording, re-titled to Twin Fantasy (Mirror to Mirror), was released on vinyl as a part of Record Store Day on April 21, and was re-released to streaming services on November 2.[13]

Critical reception

[edit]
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?8.1/10[14]
Metacritic87/100[15]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[16]
The A.V. ClubA[17]
ConsequenceA−[1]
The Guardian[18]
Mojo[19]
Pitchfork8.6/10[20]
Q[21]
Record Collector[22]
Uncut8/10[23]
Vice (Expert Witness)A−[24]

Twin Fantasy (Face to Face) received positive critical reception from contemporary music critics. On the review aggregate site Metacritic, the album received a score of 87 out of 100 based on 21 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[15] Hannah Vettese of Record Collector gave the album a perfect score, calling Toledo's lyrics "exhilarating" and described the album as "no stop-gap, contract filler of a record but rather a perfectionist giving a great album the full workout it deserved."[25] The album received a "Best New Music" certification from Pitchfork, with Mark Richardson commenting that "Toledo pulls off an album with a jarring degree of specificity that touches on feelings familiar to almost anyone who has experienced young desire and heartbreak."[26] In an "Album of the Day" feature for Bandcamp Daily, J. Edward Keyes described Twin Fantasy as "not only the best album in Toledo's catalog, [but] one of the young year's best rock albums, period," concluding that the result of the revisions, "is a blistering rock record of tremendous scope and heft, richly detailed and overflowing with memorable melodies. It is Car Seat Headrest's first masterpiece."[27] American Music journalist Robert Christgau gave the album an A−, stating that his favorite track was the shortest one, "Stop Smoking".[28]

Track listing

[edit]

All tracks are written by Will Toledo

No.TitleLength
1."My Boy (Twin Fantasy)"2:52
2."Beach Life-in-Death"13:19
3."Stop Smoking (We Love You)"1:29
4."Sober to Death"5:04
5."Nervous Young Inhumans"5:25
6."Bodys"6:46
7."Cute Thing"5:39
8."High to Death"7:39
9."Famous Prophets (Stars)"16:10
10."Twin Fantasy (Those Boys)"6:54
Total length:1:11:16

Personnel

[edit]

Adapted from Bandcamp.[29]

Car Seat Headrest

  • Will Toledo
  • Seth Dalby – bass
  • Ethan Ives – guitar
  • Andrew Katz – drums

Additional musicians

  • Adam Stilson – various sounds
  • Amanda Schiano di Cola – trumpet (track 9)
  • Jeff Walker – trombone (track 9)
  • Degnan Smith – acoustic guitars (track 4, "possibly some")

Featured performances

  • Will Toledo – "the nonbeliever"
  • Andrew Katz – "1traitdanger"
  • Hojin "Stella" Jung – "the artist"
  • Reesa Mallen – "Margot"

Production

  • Will Toledo – production, mixing
  • Adam Stilson – engineering, mixing
  • Jason Ward – mastering

Charts

[edit]
Chart (2018) Peak
position
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[30] 43
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[31] 200
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[32] 88
New Zealand Heatseeker Albums (RMNZ)[33] 1
Scottish Albums (OCC)[34] 29
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[35] 96
UK Albums (OCC)[36] 68
US Billboard 200[37] 92
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[38] 3
US Top Alternative Albums (Billboard)[39] 5
US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[40] 11

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b Brennan, Collin (February 17, 2018). "Car Seat Headrest Blazes Forward by Looking Back on Twin Fantasy (Face to Face)". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved February 17, 2018.
  2. ^ Hannah, Sean. "Car Seat Headrest - Twin Fantasy | Tiny Mix Tapes". tinymixtapes.com. Retrieved June 14, 2021.
  3. ^ "Car Seat Headrest's Will Toledo Talks About the Lo-Fi Aesthetic, Remaking His Old Songs and Borrowing From Others". CityBeat Cincinnati. Retrieved 2019-06-29.
  4. ^ a b "even when I dream of you: q&a with peyton thomas". car seat headrest. Retrieved 2018-08-16.
  5. ^ headrest, car seat (2018-01-30). "The streetfront outside Decade in December 2016, when I began overdub work with Adam on the album.pic.twitter.com/KTiUl9pxUr". @carseatheadrest. Retrieved 2019-06-29.
  6. ^ headrest, car seat (2018-01-30). "Adam outside my apartment, where we mixed for a week and where I would continue to work on the record until its completion.pic.twitter.com/vhpKXF6vlC". @carseatheadrest. Retrieved 2019-06-29.
  7. ^ ""Beach Life in Death" by Car Seat Headrest Review | Pitchfork". pitchfork.com. Retrieved 2017-12-29.
  8. ^ Twin Fantasy, Matador Records, 2018-02-16, retrieved 2017-12-29
  9. ^ "Car Seat Headrest - Twin Fantasy 2XLP Vinyl". www.srcvinyl.com. Retrieved 2017-12-29.
  10. ^ "Coming February 16 : Car Seat Headrest – 'Twin Fantasy' ; "Nervous Young Inhumans" Video Premiere". Matablog. Matador Records. 9 January 2018. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
  11. ^ "Car Seat Headrest Announces Release Plans For Twin Fantasy". www.americansongwriter.com. 9 January 2018. Retrieved 2018-01-19.
  12. ^ "Twin Fantasy". store.matadorrecords.com. Retrieved 2024-05-29.
  13. ^ Korstanje, Emma (October 9, 2018). "Car Seat Headrest Announce International Tour". Paste Magazine.
  14. ^ "Twin Fantasy by Car Seat Headrest reviews". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved September 2, 2019.
  15. ^ a b "Twin Fantasy by Car Seat Headrest Reviews and Tracks". Metacritic. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
  16. ^ Deming, Mark. "Twin Fantasy – Car Seat Headrest". AllMusic. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
  17. ^ Brusie, David (February 16, 2018). "Car Seat Headrest, Twin Fantasy". The A.V. Club. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
  18. ^ Hann, Michael (February 16, 2018). "Car Seat Headrest: Twin Fantasy (Face to Face) review – striking remake with extra oomph". The Guardian. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
  19. ^ McNair, James (March 2018). "Car Seat Headrest: Twin Fantasy". Mojo (292): 96.
  20. ^ Richardson, Mark (February 16, 2018). "Car Seat Headrest: Twin Fantasy". Pitchfork. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
  21. ^ Solomon, Kate (March 2018). "Car Seat Headrest: Twin Fantasy". Q (382): 107.
  22. ^ Vettese, Hannah (February 2018). "Car Seat Headrest – Twin Fantasy". Record Collector (476). Retrieved February 16, 2018.
  23. ^ Anderson, Jason (March 2018). "Car Seat Headrest: Twin Fantasy". Uncut (250): 22.
  24. ^ Christgau, Robert (February 17, 2018). "Robert Christgau on the Desperation of Ezra Furman and Car Seat Headrest". Vice. Retrieved February 17, 2018.
  25. ^ "Twin Fantasy - Record Collector Magazine". recordcollectormag.com. Retrieved 2018-07-28.
  26. ^ "Car Seat Headrest: Twin Fantasy Album Review | Pitchfork". pitchfork.com. Retrieved 2018-07-28.
  27. ^ "Car Seat Headrest, "Twin Fantasy"". Bandcamp Daily. 2018-02-16. Retrieved 2019-11-23.
  28. ^ "Robert Christgau on the Desperation of Ezra Furman and Car Seat Headrest". Noisey. 2018-03-16. Retrieved 2018-07-28.
  29. ^ "Twin Fantasy, by Car Seat Headrest". Car Seat Headrest. Retrieved 2022-10-15.
  30. ^ "Ultratop.be – Car Seat Headrest – Twin Fantasy" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  31. ^ "Ultratop.be – Car Seat Headrest – Twin Fantasy (Mirror to Mirror)" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
  32. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Car Seat Headrest – Twin Fantasy" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  33. ^ "NZ Heatseeker Albums Chart". Recorded Music NZ. February 26, 2018. Retrieved February 23, 2018.
  34. ^ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved May 11, 2020.
  35. ^ "Top 100 Albumes – Semana 8: del 16.2.2018 al 22.2.2018" (in Spanish). Productores de Música de España. Retrieved March 1, 2018.
  36. ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  37. ^ "Car Seat Headrest Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
  38. ^ "Car Seat Headrest Chart History (Independent Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
  39. ^ "Car Seat Headrest Chart History (Top Alternative Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
  40. ^ "Car Seat Headrest Chart History (Top Rock Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
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