Car Seat Headrest - Nervous Young Inhumans

Will Toledo opens Nervous Young Inhumans, a new version of a song he originally released in 2011 when his fame was close to zero, reflecting on his old mistakes while writing in cursive: his letters never crossed the line; now, with much more experience, he is able to see how that was a mistake and is working hard on improving, If back in the day of its first release, it was a metaphor of silly mistakes one do in first relationships and become quite evident once we grow up, the re-release of the song brings meta interpretations to it.

It's inevitable to think now of that verse, even when not a single word was changed, as a reflection in Toledo's own capabilities as a musician. The original track ('11 version) was a decent effort of a 19 year old to create music through the tools he had available and to express his frustration with teen love stories, but that still needed to sort out how to get rid of lo-fi distortions and reverb. Now, 7 years later, a much more polished version is a meta song of young adult Toledo reflecting on teenager Toledo reflecting on prepubescent Toledo, both as a lover and as a musician.

If you listen to both versions back to back, the mistakes of the first one will jump immediately to you, but you will probably also get a rawer feeling of sexual discovery of a precocious boy that uses the word "galvanize", followed by the realization that the use of that word was just for bragging ("I'm a well read boy that blends Mary Shelly references on his lyrics") and now feels embarrassed of his own pedantry. He is able to recognize that he was promising, and is decided to fix a track to deliver a better version of himself and his art.

Now, after two critically acclaimed albums, Toledo takes the track to a much more accomplished level, with hooks and riffs that make the melody shine in his most Bowie-esque moment to date. Now it's not only an exploration of faking personalities to a lover, but also a thrilling indie rock experience to dance and sing-along in music festivals.