I’ll be the first to admit that my Car Seat Headrest obsession has gotten out of hand.

I don’t even know how it happened, if I am being completely honest. It is as if one moment, my childhood friend, Siobhan Murray, introduced me to the myth, the man, the legend himself (also known as Will Toledo, the scrawny, whiny frontman of Car Seat Headrest), and the next, I’m screaming along to all thirteen minutes of “Beach Life-In-Death”, which, for those who are not familiar with this band or their music, is a rock ballad about the end of Will Toledo’s toxic, codependent relationship that occurred when he was a teenager.

I will also be the first to admit that this obsession is annoying for anyone who is not me. Car Seat Headrest consumes my every waking thought. I cannot stop talking about the cultural impact that “Teens of Denial” and “Twin Fantasy” has had on the indie rock scene as a whole, or how Will Toledo recorded all of his earlier albums that are only available on Bandcamp in the back of his car in Leesburg, Virginia (hence the name Car Seat Headrest. Again, for those who are not familiar with this band and its origins, Will Toledo decided to name his project Car Seat Headrest because he spent the majority of his time looking at the back of a car seat headrest when recording his earlier albums), or how Will Toledo wrote multiple concept albums about someone that he never even dated. If I have a chance to bring up Car Seat Headrest, I will. It’s embarrassing at this point.

All of my friends now hate both me and Car Seat Headrest. But now, I have the chance to redeem myself. The purpose of this column, “I Promise I Listen to Music Other Than Car Seat Headrest and Here’s Proof,” is to prove to my friends, family and other misfortunate souls that have heard me ramble on and on about Car Seat Headrest that I do, in fact, listen to other music. I swear to god that I do. Please don’t close out of this tab. I know that I just talked your ear off about Car Seat Headrest for two paragraphs, but I need you to trust me on this.

The criteria that I have for each article I write is fairly straightforward. Each article will focus on a band that isn’t Car Seat Headrest, but instead a smaller artist that has five hundred thousand monthly listeners or less. I will give a brief description of the genre of music each artist makes as well as their origin story, my favorite tracks by them, what I find particularly enticing about their music, et cetera. Hopefully, this will not only assist you all in discovering new music, but also help support these smaller artists in their musical endeavors.

But most importantly, I am going to break this Car Seat Headrest cycle! I hope you all are ready to join me on the journey of a lifetime.

Actually, I guess this isn’t really a journey.

I just want to talk about Car Seat Headrest a little less.