With new music coming out constantly finding a favorite song can be difficult, how can you pick just one song out of the hundreds you’ve heard? The answer to this question changes constantly for me, but one song I’ve can always say is one of my favorites is Beach-Life-In-Death by Car Seat Headrest. Originally released in 2011 off the album Twin Fantasy (Mirror to Mirror) by the band Car Seat Headrest the song while still amazing at the time had very low-quality recording-wise. The band, led by singer/songwriter Will Toledo, wasn’t big at the time of its initial release and most of the songs were recorded in his bedroom so there were obvious flaws in the mixing, mic quality, and overall had a “lo-fi” sound. The term lo-fi is short for low fidelity which is a style of recording that often features many imperfections and a low-quality sound in the recording, this style is usually seen in artists that are just starting. But, despite that its overall structure, emotion, and songwriting were all there still making the song a great listen. However, this song wouldn’t be one of my favorites if it weren’t for the remastered version which was released in 2018. After the band received a record deal with the record label Matador Records they now had the professional resources to make the music they’ve always wanted to. So following the release of their second album with the label, Teens of Denial, Car Seat Headrest made the unorthodox decision to completely remaster and re-release their Twin Fantasy album. The album upon its release was faced with critical and commercial success receiving many positive reviews and charting 92 on the US Billboard 200. Personally, the album as a whole is no doubt one of my favorites of all time.

But the song that stands out the most to me is as mentioned before, Beach Life-in-Death. The song spanning 13 minutes long may make it seem like it will get boring but with its unique song structure and storytelling, it’s able to retain your attention for the entirety of it. This is something I really enjoy about this song, most songs that last for such a long duration usually leave me bored after a while wanting to skip to the next one but no matter how many times I listen to this song I always want to hear the entire thing. For the content of this song, the track starts pretty fast with it instantly getting into its guitar-heavy instrumental where Will Toledo sings a story of what sounds like him having to say goodbye to a relationship. From there the song continues with the guitar-oriented rock sound and delves into topics like life feeling mundane, struggles with love, and many insecurities that the singer faced. Then at around the 5-minute mark, the song starts to slow down with Will reminiscing over a relationship that had to come to an end as revealed by the lyric, “It's been a year since we first met, I don't know if we're boyfriends yet”. This also exemplifies his confusion when dealing with this relationship which is a common theme throughout the track. The song is much more mellow during this part with the guitars becoming less abrasive and slower along with Wills singing having a sadder inflection matching the pace of the song. Suddenly, the next part of the song comes in with the guitar riff that was played at the beginning putting an end to the somber mood which previously set. The vocals towards the ladder half of the track also become angrier and angsty paired with more introspective lyrics giving the song a loud cinematic ending as the lines, “The ocean washed open your grave, the ocean washed over your grave”, are repeated till the song comes to a close. All in all, this song is an amazingly written and produced song that I can never get tired of. Whether it’s the lyrical content or just the music as a whole this song is an incredible experience for me that will last as one of my favorites for a long time.