Mixed Media And Poorly Written Reviews

Car Seat Headrest “Cute Thing”

The key moment in “Cute Thing” comes arrives right near the start of it, as Will Toledo extends an offer to “come visit Kansas for a week of debauchery, songs, and high fives and… weird sex.” He mumbles that last part and deliberately buries it in the mix so that it trails off. It’s awkward and honest and earnest and embarrassing, and sets up a song that’s all about fumbling around trying to figure out how to be confident and sexy in a way that doesn’t make you feel like a fool or a fraud. The song is like a “Louie Louie” style garage rock anthem stuffed full of digressions and rambling interludes, which is sort of hilariously self-defeating but also an ideal way of conveying this gawky, nerdy teenage state of mind. How nerdy, you may be wondering? Well, nerdy enough to go on a tangent about trying to work the name of his crush into They Might Be Giants’ “Ana Ng” and name-checking John Linnell with great reverence before ending the song on a supremely angsty section in which he vows to sleep naked next to this guy. What a glorious mess of a song!

Buy it from Amazon.