A Hundred Thousand Hymns

Car Seat Headrest “True/False Lover”

Car Seat Headrest’s The Scholars is a dense concept album with several very long songs on it, and it’s sung from various characters’ point of view, but mostly by Will Toledo. That is very confusing, and I haven’t had enough time with the record to form any sort of opinion on the rock opera of it all. That could take weeks, months, years. But “True/False Lover,” the brief up-tempo rocker at the end of the record? I can tell you right now that this one rips. When that synth riff hits after the first verse, sounding like a burst of neon pink against a grey backdrop? When the beat gallops forward while Toledo sings about getting out of court custody and being excited to see someone again? That’s the stuff. I don’t need to know the whole story to understand the stakes of this music, and while it feels like sprinting towards freedom. It’s all right there in the song.

Buy it from Bandcamp.

Um, Jennifer? “Went On T”

The big question in this song is basically, do you know yourself well enough to predict exactly what will happen when you deliberately make a huge change in your life? In this case, the change is going on testosterone and transitioning, and worrying about how that might impact a new relationship. The song is under two minutes but there’s some big time jumps – starting the transition without knowing how drastically they’d change, cutting to six months later when they feel like the same person but stronger and sexier, and then to some other point when it’s clear the guilt and anxiety was largely coming from their partner. It ends on a very bitter note in lyrical terms, but with the music, it’s cathartic and freeing.

Buy it from Bandcamp.

Valerie June “Joy, Joy!”

I’m trying to get as much mileage out of this song as possible right now before it inevitably gets licensed to death. It’s at a very widely accessible intersection of soulful, funky, and rocking, and the chorus feels like a burst of sunshine with simple, direct lyrics: “You’ll find that joy joy in your soul.” Do you get what I’m saying here? This is going to be in ads and trailers and everything, sooner than later. It’s a ticking timebomb of commercial potential, and I recommend getting in now before it explodes and runs the risk of being more annoying than joyous. Because it really, truly is joyous.

Buy it from Bandcamp.