Carpool have been not-so-quietly making their mark in their hometown of Rochester, New York for about five years now with their restless, reckless youthfulness. The four-piece make the kind of music that sounds like one final party being thrown before the planet explodes—you can drink and smoke and do as many drugs as you want, because there won’t be a tomorrow in which you have to deal with the consequences of it all.
That doesn’t mean that “Can We Just Get High?”—the band’s first single for their second album (and first on SideOneDummy), My Life in Subtitles, is pure hedonism, though. Because mixed in with the booze and substances and sex is the heavy weight of human existence. The song’s guitar solo might be joyous and as free-flowing as a beer keg, but there’s serious existential and emotional truth hiding underneath. “I think I lost it all on the day I was born,” sings Chris “Stoph” Colasanto just before that solo kicks in, and you understand in that moment—as his voice cracks and the beautifully discordant tune soars to a new low of despair—that even if the world’s collapsing, there’s nothing wrong with dancing as the flames engulf you. In fact, there’s probably nothing better.
“The lyrics are meant to be wordy, tongue-in-cheek, and cluttered together almost like a panic attack—because maybe at certain points that’s what I’m talking about,” shares Colasanto. “How I’ve learned to handle my anxieties and fears of the everyday ‘mundane,’ whether it’s healthy or not. I spell out the way I think about situations when I’m approached with them, the way my brain intakes information. ‘Love me, hate me, don’t care / Can we just get high’ is straight up how I feel about everything. We could be mortal fucking enemies, rivals from birth—and yet, we smoke a blunt together and talk and most things will melt away.”
Continuing on about My Life in Subtitles, which drops March 22, Colasanto adds: “This album is about the way my life is chronicled for you to read since 2018. I think this is the most correct way to start it off. By showcasing how much of a fucking basket case I truly am.”
Check out the track below.
