Twin Fantasy has been alive for 6 years. That is why Will Toledo, a frontman of the group Car Seat Headrest (known in indie alternative circles as gay/furry anxious romantic) decided to rename the old version by adding an appendix Face To Face. Now that he has more tools and material goods, the alternative lo-fi classic from 2011 is reincarnated.
As someone who perceives the original release as highly important for its emotional shaping, I was skeptical towards the new version when I have heard refined Nervous Young Inhumans, which sounds a bit like an indie-dance hit from 2007 that could come from Franz Ferdinand. I was thinking it was a blasphemy to polish music which aim was to sound like your friend recorded it on his phone on the backseat of his mother's car. The noise and the cracking contributed to the themes of bizarre heartbreaks, depression and teenage anxiety.
Two, three more plays and my heart became softer, so I have come to the conclusion how we should all be happy with this new version of the lo-fi classic. Toledo substituted many post-production maneuvers and electronic manipulations with new, developed instrumentals that boost the album with unfiltered energy. Meaning, Car Seat Headrest have created an exquisitely energetic and visceral album by giving the previous versions of songs a shot of dynamic, synths and drum machines. They have also modernized intertextual references (God, give me Frank Ocean's voice). My favorite is prolonged Beach Life-In-Death, a lamentation of a relationship in which the author is trying to discern whether the relationship was real or only on the level of a possibility. It grows into black hole of self-pity, which is why it's my favorite :)
The pinnacle of the album comes with a 16 minute long ballade titled Famous Prophets (Stars), an absolutely grandiose finale on the trace of Springsteen, with self-referential texts and heavy guitars.
This is what is sounds like when you turn a monumental peace into a masterpiece!
