''Twin Fantasy'', later re-titled ''Twin Fantasy (Mirror to Mirror)'', is the sixth solo album by American

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

musician Will Toledo, under his alias Car Seat Headrest. Since its release in 2011, the album has amassed an online

cult following A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...

, with the

internet forums An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are often longer than one line of text, and are at least temporar ...

4chan 4chan is an anonymous English-language imageboard website. Launched by Christopher "moot" Poole in October 2003, the site hosts boards dedicated to a wide variety of topics, from anime and manga to video games, cooking, weapons, television, ...

and

Reddit Reddit (; stylized in all lowercase as reddit) is an American social news aggregation, content rating, and discussion website. Registered users (commonly referred to as "Redditors") submit content to the site such as links, text posts, images ...

playing major roles in the album's success. A re-recording of the album was released via

Matador Records Matador Records is an independent record label, with a roster of mainly indie rock, but also punk rock, experimental rock, alternative rock, and electronic acts. History Matador was created in 1989 by Chris Lombardi in his New York City apart ...

on February 16, 2018.

Background and recording

Writing for ''Twin Fantasy'' began in mid-2011 after Toledo transferred from

Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is a public research university in Richmond, Virginia. VCU was founded in 1838 as the medical department of Hampden–Sydney College, becoming the Medical College of Virginia in 1854. In 1968, the Virgini ...

to the

College of William and Mary The College of William & Mary (officially The College of William and Mary in Virginia, abbreviated as William & Mary, W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1693 by letters patent issued by King William III a ...

due to feelings of isolation and anxiety. He specified in an interview with

Uproxx ''Uproxx'' (stylized in all caps) is an entertainment and popular culture news website. It was founded in 2008 by Jarret Myer and Brian Brater, and acquired by Woven Digital (later renamed Uproxx Media Group) in 2014. The site's target audience ...

that it was the first Car Seat Headrest album to be conceived of and written as a full album, rather than a collection of songs. This change in style had been a result of the writing process for "Beach Life-in-Death". ''Twin Fantasy'' was performed and produced entirely by Toledo, and would feature a prominent use of

lo-fi Lo-fi (also typeset as lofi or low-fi; short for low fidelity) is a music or production quality in which elements usually regarded as imperfections in the context of a recording or performance are present, sometimes as a deliberate choice. The ...

production, largely due to his lack of resources. The album's cover art was also created by Toledo, with booklet art provided by independent comic artist Cate Wurtz, who had previously worked with Toledo on the artwork for ''3'', ''4'', and ''My Back is Killing Me Baby''. ''Twin Fantasy'' was initially released via the online music platform

Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online audio distribution platform founded in 2007 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with headquarters in Oakland, California, US. On March 2, 2022, Bandcamp ...

on November 2, 2011. Upon its release, Toledo estimates the album was downloaded by around 100 people, but has since gone on to be downloaded over 33,000 times as of 2018. The album received a

remaster Remaster refers to changing the quality of the sound or of the image, or both, of previously created recordings, either audiophonic, cinematic, or videographic. The terms digital remastering and digitally remastered are also used. Mastering A ...

around a year after release, with additional bass being added to most tracks.

Music and lyrics

Toledo stated via Tumblr that ''Twin Fantasy'' is a

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

which explores a relationship he was in at the time. "Beach Life-In-Death", the longest track on the album, clocks in at 12 minutes and 11 seconds and changes style multiple times throughout. The lyric sheet included with downloads separates the song into three parts. Toledo has noted that his main sources of inspiration for the album included Pink Floyd, Of Montreal,

Destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...

, and

They Might Be Giants They Might Be Giants (often abbreviated as TMBG) is an American alternative rock band formed in 1982 by John Flansburgh and John Linnell. During TMBG's early years, Flansburgh and Linnell frequently performed as a duo, often accompanied by a d ...

, along with various

romantic poets Romantic poetry is the poetry of the Romantic era, an artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. It involved a reaction against prevailing Enlightenment ideas of the 18t ...

he had been studying at the time. The chorus from "

Ana Ng "Ana Ng" ( ) is a song by alternative rock band They Might Be Giants. It was released as the lead single from the band's 1988 album ''Lincoln''. Although the song was their first US chart appearance, hitting #11 on the US Modern Rock chart, the ...

" by They Might Be Giants was interpolated into "Cute Thing''"'' with some minor changes. The outro of "

Jugband Blues "Jugband Blues" is a song by the English psychedelic rock band Pink Floyd, released on their second album, ''A Saucerful of Secrets'', in 1968. Written by Syd Barrett, it was his sole compositional contribution to the album, as well as his last pub ...

" by

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philo ...

was interpolated in "High to Death''"'' with some changes. However, this is removed in future releases.

Track listing

All tracks written and performed by Will Toledo.

Twin Fantasy (Face to Face)

A re-recording of ''Twin Fantasy'' was released on February 16th, 2018, under the name '' Twin Fantasy (Face to Face)''. It is a complete full band re-recording and reworking of the original album, which was subsequently subtitled ''Mirror to Mirror'' after the release of the re-recorded album.

References

2011 albums Car Seat Headrest albums Concept albums {{2010s-album-stub