Car Seat Headrest Rerecord Teens of Denial for Its 10th Anniversary

Teen of Denial: Joe's Story remakes the breakout album Teens of Denial for its 10th anniversary. The project adjusts original lyrics and adds new recordings to more clearly convey the story of Joe. The character of Joe is described as an homage to Daniel Johnston, used as a stand-in in multiple songs. The remaking process involved re-sequencing the songs to reflect what Joe is going through, discarding tracks that no longer fit the new narrative context, and writing new lyrics for songs that needed to fully realize the story. The creator draws on memories from a college period marked by cynicism and misplaced aggression, using ten years of distance to add perspective. The original album remains available on streaming services.

"The character of Joe, Toledo explains, was an homage to Daniel Johnston, who used the name in several songs "as a sort of joke, a stand-in for himself." He goes on, "I started thinking-who is Joe? And how do the songs, in the way they're sequenced on the album, reflect what he's going through? As I started asking this question, a story emerged with startling wholeness and clarity, like finding the foundations of an ancient city while digging in my backyard.""

""As I kept digging, certain songs from the original album fell by the wayside, as they seemed misplaced in this new context; others asked for new lyrics, to fully give birth to the story contained in the music." "While the original emerged from a college life filled with 'cynicism and misplaced aggression,' he adds, the intervening years allowed him to 'pull from memories of that darkness, and use the distance and additional perspective of ten years of life to shed a fuller light on the experience.'""

""The resulting work," Will Toledo says in press materials, "feels more like the album Teens of Denial was meant to be." "Out today for the record's 10th anniversary, Teen of Denial: Joe's Story adjusts the original lyrics and threads in new recordings to better tell the titular character's story." "The band reunited with original producer Steve Fisk for the record.""

""For anyone familiar with Teens, comparisons with the original will be inevitable, but I do hope that as much as possible, people can come to this album on its own terms, approaching it as a teen, hearing the music and story for the first time. I believe music is an ongoing story, and albums don't always do justice to its dynamic, ongoing n""

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