Stream: BOYO, ‘Backseat Driver’

Kevin Bronson on February 26th, 2020

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Robert Tilden makes warped, wistful guitar-pop under the name BOYO, turning his palpable fears and dark moods into powerful confessionals. We emphasize “palpable” there because of what happened with the songwriter after the release of his 2016 album “Control.”

To recap: In 2017, Tilden began suffering unexplained seizures, and after a year of trying various medications, he was finally diagnosed with an acute form of frontal lobe epilepsy. His current meds have the seizures under control, but there are side effects, among them disconcerting mood swings. In 2018, BOYO released two albums, both made on his own. We described the second, “Dance Alone,” as “about isolation, made in isolation,” which took nothing away from its brittle beauty.

“Where Have All My Friends Gone?” is BOYO’s fourth full-length, due May 22 via Park the Van Records. He reflects on it: “The experience shaped my perspective, but it inherently shaped the album as well. I use music to work through my problems and things I don’t understand, so this record has been a one-sided therapy session in a way. It doesn’t have to be this brooding, dark thing; it can be more connective.”

The new single “Backseat Driver” is a straightforward memorandum that sounds like it’s been left out in the sun too long. Tilden calls it “a pretty thinly veiled metaphor for someone constantly asserting their need to control your life — needing to drive from the backseat while you steer.”

Director Nathan Castiel, who helmed 2018’s video for “Attics” (which featured Jason Alexander) as well as “Hit or Miss,” made the video for “Backseat Driver.” “I wanted ‘Backseat Driver’ to feel like a surrealist home movie,” Castiel says. “When Rob and I discussed shooting in the snow, I knew I wanted to bring an element of weird humor to it and create a character that was both dark and silly. We shot on Super8 and miniDV and leaned into a loose, collage-like aesthetic.”

||| Stream: “Backseat Driver”