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Citizen

As You Please

Written by: PP on 13/01/2018 13:35:24

Citizen began their career in the same grungy, emotionally-charged world of alternative rock that was best described as a blurry blend of punk, shoegaze, and post-hardcore best exemplified by Title Fight's career masterpiece "Floral Green" five years ago. They've slowly evolved their sound away from the punk undertones, which was evident already on their sophomore album "Everybody's Going To Heaven", but their third album "As You Please" is a fairly radical shift stylistically from their material thus far.

Although their music has always been depth-laden and ambitiously challenging in its nature, they take all that a step further here and move towards a Thrice-esque exploration of ambient soundscapes and take full advantage of the signature Will Yip style dreamy, shoegaze-flavored indie rock production. The resulting expression is a contemplative, gloomy expression that creates a lingering, foggy atmosphere through which the band's soothing vocals float effortlessly into back-chilling melodies.

Much like Thrice on their "Vheissu" album, there are moments of abrasiveness on the record, perhaps best on display during "World", but even here the soothing atmospherics soften singer Mat Kerekes' breaking voice as it approaches a gravelly scream. However, Citizen is at their very best during tracks like "Medicine", a progressive alternative rock piece that takes perfect utilization of quiet/loud dynamic and delivers a majestic chorus that the masters of this style -- Thrice -- would be extremely proud to call their own.

"As You Please" is one of those records that takes quite a few listens to absorb fully, and that's because the melodies are often subtle and nondescript on first listen. There are no instant rewards here save for maybe "Medicine" as mentioned earlier, but instead, the band's depth-laden songwriting and ingenious song constructs slowly grown on the listener. The result is a fantastic piece of atmospheric, ambient music that takes just enough edge from post-hardcore to keep you on your toes. Arguably their best album yet.

Download: Medicine, World, Ugly Luck
For the fans of: Thrice, Balance And Composure, Basement, Brand New
Listen: Facebook

Release date 06.10.2017
Run For Cover Records