Making a Door Less Open (abbreviated as MADLO[1]) is the twelfth album by American indie rock band Car Seat Headrest.

Critics reacted mostly positively to the album, enjoying the band's new electronic and EDM influences along with its lyricism.

Car Seat Headrest started as a solo project by musician Will Toledo shortly after he had graduated from high school.

[3] After the release of How to Leave Town, Toledo would sign to Matador Records and go on to release Teens of Style, Teens of Denial and Twin Fantasy (Face to Face) with band members Andrew Katz, Ethan Ives and Seth Dalby.

[4] Writing for Making a Door Less Open began in January 2015, prior to the band's signing to Matador Records.

[6] In an official write-up on the album titled "Newness and Strangeness", Toledo wrote, "The songs [from Making a Door Less Open] contain elements of EDM, hip hop, futurism, doo-wop, soul, and of course rock and roll.

[9] Radiohead was noted as a large influence during the creation of Making a Door Less Open, specifically "Idioteque" and Kid A.

[9] "Life Worth Missing" came about after Toledo and Katz were texting each other anxiously after a lack of response from a demo version of the album.

[10] Unlike previous albums from the band, Making a Door Less Open would end up being produced with more emphasis on individual tracks due to the increased prominence of digital streaming.

[13][16] Much of this new sound was inspired by Toledo and Katz' comedic EDM side project, 1 Trait Danger.

[11][1] "Hollywood" is a brash rock song featuring fuzzy synthesizers and a narrator disgusted at the exploitation within the entertainment industry.

[1] Rob Hakimian of Beats Per Minute described the original track as one made up of atmospheric organs, featuring Toledo's discussion of life's futility.

[11] On February 26, 2020, Making a Door Less Open was officially announced by the band, along with the release of the album's first single, "Can't Cool Me Down".

[13] Rob Hakimian of Beats Per Minute described how the album had some of the band's most "excoriating songs yet", also noting how the tracks were easy to emotionally connect to.

[21] Writing about the album for Clash, Marianne Gallagher stated how Making a Door Less Open was a fitting representation of the COVID-19 pandemic.

[11] Writing for PopMatters, Jonathan Leal gave the album a 9/10, calling it a "landmark record" within the band's catalogue.

Writing for Pitchfork, Ian Cohen wrote about how the album was made up of "mild disappointments and half-realized experiments".

[25] In a review for Our Culture, Konstantinos Pappis wrote about how some of the album's experimentation worked, but some tracks were messy and fell flat.

[1] Writing for The Guardian, Alexis Petridis enjoyed tracks such as "Can't Cool Me Down" and "Hymn (Remix)", but noted how Making a Door Less Open sometimes "[landed] with a dead thud".

[20] Emily Mackay of The Observer enjoyed some of the new sound of the album, but noted that some tracks "[failed] to charm".