bgrieggs
Very much picking up where big mouth left off with a driving bass line that makes you want to move, and shuffling drums you cant help to move your head to. Highly anticipating this release, as always, love Citizen!
This is a pre-order - shipping to arrive on street date (March 26 2021)
Released by Run For Cover Records. Limited to 1000 Copies.
Includes digital pre-order of Life In Your Glass World.
You get 2 tracks now
(streaming via the free Bandcamp app
and also available as a high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more), plus the
complete album the moment it’s released.
shipping out on or around March 26, 2021
Purchasable with gift card
$20USDor more
Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
This is a pre-order - shipping to arrive on street date (March 26 2021)
Released by Run For Cover Records.
Includes digital pre-order of Life In Your Glass World.
You get 2 tracks now
(streaming via the free Bandcamp app
and also available as a high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more), plus the
complete album the moment it’s released.
shipping out on or around March 26, 2021
Purchasable with gift card
$10USDor more
Streaming + Download
Pre-order of Life In Your Glass World. You get 2 tracks now (streaming via the free Bandcamp app and also available as a high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more), plus the complete album the moment it’s released.
I’ll pick it up right where I left off
Their banging their drums and they point to me
I’m only alive when I need to be
I’ll keep on digging up my lost cause
It comes so slow but suddenly
The things that make you happy
They are not enough for me
I’ll keep it coming if you want some more
I’ll keep on running but it gets so tiring
And when there is nothing left to write down
Oh, will you come running when I get too tired?
In the bright red sky I saw a pain that I clung to once before
But I never want to go there anymore
And in my bright blue eyes I know I’m looking for something to calm my nerves
The clock is a knife and I wait my turn
and it’s just getting worse
I’ll keep it coming if you want some more
I’ll keep on running but it gets so tiring
And when all the water fills my lungs up
Oh, will you come running when I get too tired?
I just want to play god for myself
I just want war and nothing else
I’ll keep it coming if you want some more
I’ll keep on running but it gets so tiring
And when I got nothing left to give you
Oh, will you come running when I get too tired?
On my blue Sunday
There’s nothing else that I can do
I throw my troubles away
Don’t do nothing I don’t want to
And as your body takes shape
I draw your shadow in my room
I got a lot to take in and nowhere to begin
She told me oh no, don’t you keep me waiting baby
Don’t want to be something if I gotta sell my wounds to you
Dig up a memory I hate
Get some attention when I do
Now everybody knows best
Only see things how they want to
When papers roll in, it doesn’t have to be me
But it will never be you
Kick me down, mess me up a little more than last time
In the back of my head
Where the devils come play
Nothing better than this
I’m not missing a thing
And if you lay me down
Just let me burn instead
And if I get knocked down
I don’t want to go back
In the back of my head
Where the devils come play
Nothing better than this
I’m not missing a thing
In the house that I live
Where I spend all my days
Nothing better than this
I don’t miss anything
4.
Thin Air
5.
Call Your Bluff
6.
Pedestal
7.
Fight Beat
8.
Black and Red
9.
Glass World
10.
Winter Buds
11.
Edge of the World
about
Citizen have always eluded definition. The Toledo, Ohio-based three-piece have been making dynamic, wide-ranging guitar music for over ten years, challenging expectations with each new album and refusing to fit neatly in a box. On their fourth full-length, Life In Your Glass World, Citizen have crafted their most singular work to date completely on their own terms—proving that only the band themselves can define their identity.
Since forming in 2009, Citizen—vocalist Mat Kerekes, guitarist Nick Hamm, and bassist Eric Hamm—have endlessly pushed themselves with each successive release, actively resisting the comfort zones that often plague bands as they grow. The band has fearlessly taken risks with their sound on each new album, and shown themselves capable of exploring impassioned post-hardcore, raw noise rock, shimmering indie pop, anthemic alternative, and more—often on the same album, and sometimes even the same track. But growth isn’t always painless, and the band has been navigating the fraught music industry from a young age—learning as they went and sometimes feeling pulled in different directions at once.
When it came time to make Life In Your Glass World, Citizen’s need to continue moving forward creatively went hand in hand with their desire to be fully in control of their creative destiny. Nick Hamm explains: “I don’t have a lot of regret but there have definitely been times when we felt powerless during the band’s existence. This time we really owned every part of the process. It’s easy to feel like you’re on autopilot when you’re in a band, but that’s not a good place to be this far into our existence. We consciously knew we wanted to break free.”
For Citizen that meant taking the entire album-making process home to Toledo (the Glass City) and creating everything in-house. Kerekes built a studio in his garage, a project that was both empowering and practical. “It’s super easy and convenient,” he says. “But I also felt like building the studio was a way to prove we don’t need anything but ourselves.” Hamm adds, “This is the first self-sufficient Citizen record. There was no pressure at all and moving at our own pace allowed the songs to be a little more fleshed out.” The looser recording process afforded the band time to focus on each song’s individual mood, making their signature blend of aggression and melody all the more pronounced, and even capturing appealing imperfections. The result is an album that represents the members’ vision in its purest form, something that feels distinctly Citizen while also marking the start of a fresh chapter.
One of the most immediately striking elements of Life In Your Glass World is the band’s attention to rhythm. Many of the songs feature undeniably danceable beats and sharply grooving guitar lines, which give both the barnburners and the brooding atmospheric tracks a pulsating heart. “When you write songs the same way for X amount of years, you start to want to try something new,” Kerekes says. “These songs were mostly built from drums and bass first, which was different for us. I’d start with a completely different beat every time to get a certain energy.” The band’s desire to assert themselves is palpable both in the music and Kerekes’ lyrics, mirroring not only their creative frustrations but also a long year of personal upheavals. “There’s a lot of anger in these songs and we wanted the music to communicate that,” Hamm says. “I think a lot of people expect bands to slow down or chill out when they get to where we are, but we consciously didn’t want to do that.”
The opening one-two punch of “Death Dance Approximately” and “I Want To Kill You” exemplifies the acerbic-yet-buoyant feel of Life In Your Glass World, and the latter sums up the album’s defiant themes. Kerekes puts it plainly: “Sometimes you feel like you’re being used. A lot of the lyrics are liberating, they’re reclaiming control.” The band wastes no time in showing their range, pivoting to the melancholy haze of “Blue Sunday” and the bounce of “Thin Air,” both of which meditate on the struggle to invest so much in something only to be let down and retreat inside oneself instead. Elsewhere tracks like “Call Your Bluff” and “Black and Red” showcase Citizen’s knack for big choruses, while “Pedestal” features towering drums and a distorted bass line that’s as malevolent sounding as Kerekes’ vitriolic words. “Fight Beat,” with its tense mix of otherworldly menace and memorable hooks, takes the band’s rhythmic-centric writing to its furthest point yet; lyrically, the song grapples with the realization that one has passed a point of no return, a sentiment that permeates the attitude of Life In Your Glass World. “This isn’t a baby step,” Hamm says. “It’s exactly what we want to do.”
Much of Life In Your Glass World deals with the bleak and challenging aspects of being human, and the album often feels like an exorcism of pent up negative feelings. But those feelings give way to a sense of hope with the closing track “Edge of The World.” Interweaving guitars rise around Kerekes’ voice as he considers past pain with the kind of clarity that can only come from time and distance—and finds promise in looking towards the future. The song builds to a soaring finale as the clouds part and Kerekes declares, “At the end of the day there was beauty in tragedy.” It’s one last turn, the kind of affirmation that makes you reexamine everything you just heard with a newfound perspective. It’s a fitting conclusion for Life In Your Glass World – borne of the confidence gained through years of trials, tribulations, and self reflection – and one that asserts that Citizen’s true identity is rooted in the raw energy of constant evolution.
supported by 12 fans who also own “Life In Your Glass World”
I got this as a present last year for Christmas. I listened to it digitally on Spotify but just put the vinyl on my record player for the first time. I’m in love with this album and can’t wait to hear what you guys have in store next! Hope everyone is well and safe! srslysam
supported by 11 fans who also own “Life In Your Glass World”
album has very strong lyrics and showcases the bands versatility as well as their influences. the sound is well balanced and the instrumentation is perfect; nothing is overdone. this is just all around fantastic album and serves very fittingly as the (potentially) final one for this group. danfis1_2
supported by 10 fans who also own “Life In Your Glass World”
Came to this album after hearing a small snippet online with zero knowledge of the band - very glad I bought it. Guitar tones and atmospherics are just my thing and the songwriting is solid throughout. One of my favourite guitar-based albums from the last ten years. mattmattinson
A new track from Pretty Matty finds the band in top form, delivering clean yet crunchy hook-laden power pop with trademark high energy. Bandcamp New & Notable Sep 25, 2020
On their first full-length, Hiccup touch on pop-punk, girl group doo-wop, ’90s grunge revivalism and nuanced surf rock. Bandcamp Album of the Day Apr 10, 2017
supported by 9 fans who also own “Life In Your Glass World”
I appreciate this much better than "Dance on the Blacktop," and I really liked that record. Nothing have perfected their 90s infused sound with classic 21st century songwriting. So many great songs here that make "The Great Dismal" their strongest release to date. Awesome. Weird cover though... bcb723