CITIZEN - As You Please LP (White w/ Red Splatter vinyl)

Label: Run For Cover

Boy, did Citizen mature quickly. The Toledo, Ohio quintet’s latest offering, As You Please, is a record that essentially waves goodbye to their past without completely leaving it behind. As You Please is the moodiest and most melodic of the band’s (short) career, meaning it’s an album that will surely earn the band the reductive and often cringeworthy ‘emo’ tag - that is, if sophomore effort, Everybody is Going to Heaven didn’t already.

It’s also the band’s strongest set of songs to date. Between the increased production, the reaching-slightly-too-far aspiration, and sharper focus, As You Please comes closest to fulfilling the promise shown since Citizen’s inception.

As You Please is a Citizen record, to be sure - right down to the devastating couplets that vocalist Mat Kerekes has become known for: “Into delusion we will go/ To stare at a glimpse of hope”. Given that they improve with each release, glimpse or not, hope is something worth having for Citizen.