Citizen – “As You Please”

By: Ryan Smith

Citizen is an Ohio based band that gently blends post-hardcore and pop punk elements into their comfortable and accessible sound. Their newest album, “As You Please,” makes up for 2017’s “Everybody Is Going To Heaven” but doesn’t really stand out of the crowd that is the midwest rock scene, riffs harsh enough to get the point across but not engaging enough to really feel edgy, lyrics that are only really notable for being more resentful than anything else and an album that sounds like it’s more afraid of change than the average kindergartner. There’s really nothing wrong with this album, through multiple listens I never really wanted to turn it off early or skip tracks but once I turned it off I found my brain had nothing to dwell on, nothing that made me want to return to it other than to try to find words for how I was feeling about it. If you’re a fan of post hardcore, pop punk or emo I really don’t think this’ll wow you, especially not compared to some of the year’s other offerings from those genres. And if you’re not really interested in that sound normally? I can’t imagine you’ll get much of anything out of this, it just doesn’t bring anything to the table other than some heavier than average background music. I wouldn’t say you shouldn’t listen to this, but I can’t recommend it either.

For fans of:    Brand New, Real Friends, Modern Baseball

If you enjoyed it be sure to check out:   Iron Chic, Movements, Sinai Vessel