Watch the Animated Music Video for Car Seat Headrest’s New Single “Hollywood”

Car Seat Headrest today share another single from their forthcoming album Making A Door Less Open, out May 1 through Matador Records. The song is called “Hollywood,” and it’s accompanied by an animated music video directed by Sabrina Nichols. The music video follows frontman Will Toledo’s alter ego in animated form, Trait, who is heavily featured on the album.

“This song is about Hollywood as a place where people go to make their fantasies come to life, and they end up exploiting other people and doing terrible things to maintain their fantasy,” Toledo says in a press release. “There’s this terror you’re going to lose the fantasy, and you’re going to have to face the facts, and some people will do anything to avoid facing that. It’s about that fear, and the pain of being subjugated to someone else’s fantasy against your will, and it’s all tied together under this banner of this physical location of Hollywood that we all know about and dream about, but none of us really want to think about what is going on behind the scenes there.”

With the release of “Hollywood” the band also shares the full tracklist for Making A Door Less Open across all formats, namely the bonus tracks featured on the CD. “Hollywood” is the third single to be released ahead of the album, following “Can’t Cool Me Down” and “Martin.”

Making A Door Less Open is Car Seat Headrest’s newest release since 2016’s highly acclaimed Teens of Denial. In 2018, the band also re-imagined the 2011 album Twin Fantasy, revamping many of the songs that were self-recorded early in Toledo’s career.

While the forthcoming album is the first to feature Toledo’s alter ego Trait, the character has been part of Toledo for quite some time, originating from the side project 1 Trait Danger spearheaded by Toledo and Car Seat Headrest drummer Andrew Katz. The main calling cards of the Trait character are a gas mask and rubber gloves.

“I decided to start wearing a mask for a couple of reasons,” said Toledo in an online statement. “One, I still get nervous being onstage with everybody looking at me. If everyone is looking at the mask instead, then it feels like we’re all looking at the same thing, and that is more honest to me. Two, music should be about enjoying yourself, especially live music, and I think of this costume as a way to remind myself and everyone else to have some fun with it.”

Watch the music video for “Hollywood” below, and check out the full tracklist for Making A Door Less Open across all platforms. You can pre-order the album here. The band was scheduled to tour over the summer, however COVID-19 concerns have prompted the band to postpone. Rescheduled dates will be announced.

Making A Door Less Open Tracklist:

Vinyl
1. Weightlifters
2. Can’t Cool Me Down
3. Hollywood
4. There Must Be More Than Blood
5. Hymn
6. Deadlines
7. Martin
8. What’s With You Lately
9. Life Worth Missing
10. Famous

CD
1. Weightlifters
2. Can’t Cool Me Down
3. Hollywood
4. Martin
5. Hymn (Remix)
6. There Must Be More Than Blood
7. Deadlines
8. What’s With You Lately
9. Life Worth Missing
10. Famous
11. Deadlines (Alternate Acoustic) [Bonus Track]
12. Hollywood (Acoustic) [Bonus Track]

Digital
1. Weightlifters
2. Can’t Cool Me Down
3. Deadlines (Hostile)
4. Hollywood
5. Hymn (Remix)
6. Martin
7. Deadlines (Thoughtful)
8. What’s With You Lately
9. Life Worth Missing
10. There Must Be More Than Blood
11. Famous