A man called Car Seat Headrest

Car Seat Headrest is drawing comparisons to underground band Guided By Voices for the stage-via-bedroom (in GBV’s case it’s a basement, actually) nature of their music. Guitarist, singer, and band mastermind Will Toledo has been crafting songs and uploading them to Bandcamp, a luxury Robert Pollard never had at his disposal during the early ’90s.

With the popularity of the web songs, Car Seat Headrest inked a deal with Matador Records (the label another link to GBV), and the time had come to take the show on the road.

For now, Car Seat Headrest displays everything that one would expect from a bedroom project. Toledo is nervous and subdued in the limelight (much like Tobin Sprout in GBV’s early days), but he seldom makes mistakes and brings some serious rock when the time is right.

Toledo managed to assemble a competent backing band, especially drummer Andrew Katz, who seems to be the glue for the live shows. His skills even allow the band to delve into dance rhythms every once in a while, which liven Toledo’s homespun songs. Also of note is how thin, young, and pale this group is — lined up at the front of the stage they resemble a picket fence.

So this tour is a test drive, and as a result, one couldn’t help but feeling that they were witnessing the birth of a new Fall, Pavement, Sebadoh, or, yes, Guided By Voices. It wasn’t a packed house, but the crowd fit with the intimacy of Toledo’s songs, and everyone seemed to realize that they were witnessing a new wonderkid songwriter, revealing himself for the first time.

• Concert: Car Seat Headrest
• Venue: The Casbah
• Date: January 18
• Seats: Floor