La Dispute Takes A Swing At Modern Absurdity With ‘No One Was Driving The Car’

Merle Cooper/Martin Jordan Dreyer had the concept for No One Was Driving the Car figured out pretty early: a winding, intricate network of characters trying not to buckle under the strain of environmental disaster, religious dogma, generational trauma and multi-level marketing schemes. From that point forward, he tried to consume art that matched the mood he imagined for La Dispute’s fifth album, and so breaks in recording were filled with the films of Lars Von Trier, David Cronenberg, and Ari Aster, and most importantly, Paul Schrader’s First Reformed. The final product spanned five act