CitizenLife In Your Glass World

An unholy sound, like the gates of Hell creaking open, introduces this album’s marching-tempo opener, Death Dance Approximately, which then becomes a full-pelt riff-fest with bone-rattlin’ drumming before quietening somewhat to ensure Mat Kerekes’ message is heard: “I beat myself up/ Until I cave in…” – choon!

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Described by guitarist Nick Hamm as “the first self-sufficient Citizen record”, Life In Your Glass World was recorded in Citizen’s hometown of Toledo (aka The Glass City). Kerekes built a studio in his garage so that the band could lay down these songs at their own pace and each is its own distinct beast.

I Want To Kill You’s deescalating chorus melody cleverly demonstrates, “GET SOOoooooo tiiiiiiiired,” lyrics and Pedestal boasts powerful, flinch-inducing drum thwacks. These tracks were mostly composed rhythm section first, which is a departure from their usual method, and the variety on offer is astonishing.

Life In Your Glass World demands multiple listens; give it your undivided attention and the payoff is huge

Standout track Blue Sunday, the second single, is like a welcoming hug. Of this song, Kerekes revealed, “It’s essentially about me never wanting to leave my house and although that makes me happy, it is bad for me in different ways.” And disguising heavier lyrical messages behind uplifting melodies is a bit of a theme throughout: shimmering guitars and a buoyant overall tone counters Call Your Bluff’s troubling lyrical content (“Know what it is to hate yourself/Know how it feels to want to be someone else …”) and Fight Beat’s limber bassline nonchalantly swings while Kerekes’ monotone, chanted delivery evokes menacing thought-control.

Hope diffuses feelings of hopelessness during penultimate track Winter Buds (that sludgy guitar solo rules!) and this optimistic tonal shift also colours the album’s reflective closer, Edge Of The World: “At the end of the day there was beauty in tragedy.”

For their fourth album, this talented trio tend to each song’s individual needs as lovingly as if they were nursing kindling into fire. Life In Your Glass World demands multiple listens; give it your undivided attention and the payoff is huge.

STANDOUT TRACKS: Death Dance Approximately, Blue Sunday, Pedestal
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