Life In Your Glass World - Citizen

Citizen was always one of those bands that truly stuck out to me, they were the first band that I ever became immensely obsessed with when I was like 13/14. Finding the cult classic Youth at that age while on a YouTube P!ATD autoplay shuffle was definitely a life-changing experience. It’s the band that started to truly make me appreciate rock music and is still my favorite band to this day. I figured I’d start off the first few records of this blog by reviewing some of my favorite albums of all time, to set the tone for what my music taste sounds like, and here we are with my favorite album of all time. Like ever. Life In Your Glass World released by Citizen on March 26, 2021.

This album was released at such a pivotal and important time for me. Being in high school at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic along with being freshly out of a breakup in one of the most toxic relationships ever, the endlessly relatable and timeless lyrics on this record helped me so much, so yes, this is going to be another biased review.
I cannot even begin to describe how much I love this record. It’s like the lovechild of everything that Citizen has mastered up until this point – the slow, melodic, lyrical highs of As You Please coupled with the banging post-hardcore/emo influences from Youth and EIGTH, along with indie rock and lo-fi infusions – this thing is everything that Citizen’s career was leading up to at this point. It’s so much more mature than all of their previous records, and it shows the fans that this really is a band that you can grow up with and not out of (I think I stole that quote from Pitchfork).

Why my favorite record ever? I don’t know. It just found me at the right time and I find everything about this thing to be genuine and profound. It was a safe space for me listening to this thing during one of the roughest times of my life, and while my top 5 albums change pretty consistently, I’m pretty sure LIGYW will remain my #1 album for the rest of my life.

Okay, let’s dig into this thing now. The first track, Death Dance Approximately, wastes no time reminding you that Citizen is the shit and that they’re a motherfuckin rock band. This track was actually featured on Fortnite’s Rock Royale radio a couple of years back. The song starts off with banging guitars and slowly flows into a melodic verse, with Mat Kerekes saying “...this is the last time I’ll ever give you another piece of me”. Ok Mat! We’re definitely a long time removed from the angsty yearning and anger of their prior records - sonically, lyrically, these guys don’t give a shit about these hoes anymore. The song kicks into the chorus quickly and extremely energetically, almost like they’re dying to get the words out–but then it is cut super short to flow back into another verse. That’s one thing I really, really like about this record. It’s very Queen-esque, maybe a little Jeff Mangum-y, being relentless on getting the words out. Another thing that is very Queen-y about this record is that they let the instruments sing the words for them on a lot of the songs. While this is not new to Citizen, the approach is so much more refined on LIGYW and it’s something I appreciate so much. Mat Kerekes is singing his heart out on how he knows he deserves so much more, and won’t back down. “I will pry and I will claw just to be heard”, he’s not taking shit anymore and thankfully not doing it in a corny way. After the second chorus the audience is hit with this beautiful melodic bridge that sounds so drastically different sonically from anything that Citizen has done before, and it’s so, so refreshing. This is a killer opening track and definitely sets an appropriate tone for the greatness that is this record.

Track number two, I Want To Kill You. Oh my god dude. This is just another banger. Another pure rock song. This record does a really good job of flowing things together, like, for example, on Def Leppard’s High ‘N’ Dry, the first three songs are all super rocky and super energetic, but it does a horrible job at it. There is basically nothing different about the songs there and it’s so impressive to me that a band like Citizen was able to pull off a feat of starting off a record with two totally rocking songs making them sound completely unique from each other while both bringing the energy that fans love. Mat even starts out the song saying “I’ll pick it up right where I left off”, solidifying that everything he’s feeling is not just a moment of strength but a new outlook on things.”In the bright red sky I saw a pain that I clung to once before, but I never wanna go there anymore”. The band is eager to let the audience know that they’re not the people they were 4 years ago, at the release of As You Please, and that they are so much farther on their journey of finding themselves. The instrumental bridge towards the end of this song is like the soundtrack of the band running away and releasing their old selves to their fans, and closes out beautifully and onto what is arguably one of the best tracks on the record.

Blue Sunday. Track #3. Now, the first time I listened through this thing nearly five years ago, this was the song I fell in love with and IMMEDIATELY became my favorite Citizen song. It’s incredibly different from anything they’ve ever released and has those intrepid, vague, powerful lyrics that can be interpreted however the hell you want and makes for such a killer track. I always think about this song whenever I’m super hungover after a gross Saturday night. It’s sharp, and the instrumentals that come in after the first verse are incredible. Like literally just skip to 54 seconds in and just listen. I don’t know what the hell that instrument or effect is called but it’s incredible and leads to, what the band is fortifying as a theme on this record. “Don’t wanna be something if I gotta sell my wounds to you, dig up a memory I hate, get some attention when I do”. The band is sick and tired of weeping in their sadness and approaches the emo genre with incredible new perspectives and ideas that won’t have you spiraling like a track off of Youth might. The layering of the vocals, the guitars, the simplicity, the pace, the flow, the everything of this track is truly something that fans definitely took for granted from Citizen. I remember hearing this thing live during the Citizen/Turnover show back in June and being like what the hell? They hadn’t played it when opening for Movements and this is like, my favorite song ever, and I was ecstatic. The track approaches everything so well and is definitely a standout from this record, it’s one of those tracks that I really recommend to people when trying to get them into Citizen. It’s indie rock, it’s emo, it’s lo-fi, it’s perfect. I wish I could make music like this, like seriously.

Track number #4, Thin Air. This song draws back, it’s another slow-ish one like Blue Sunday but has the same incredible relatability and melody of all the previous tracks thus far. Are you noticing a theme? That every single thing on this record is an absolute banger? Mat Kerekes is “sing(ing his) blues away, your words spill out like poetry”, and this, along with track #5, Call Your Bluff, may be the reason why Mat is writing from a live and let go angle on this record. Thin Air tells the story of being tired of an inconsistent love and just “wanting something real – if only for the thrill”. It’s another banger with rocking melodies and such a personal take on vulnerability with themes that cross over into Call Your Bluff. Whether the song is directed to a lover or someone that may have wronged him – it’s about Mat’s disregard of rationality in order to maintain the broken trust with that individual. Wanting to be wrong about being wronged is something that we can all relate to. The instrumentals delivered on this thing call for a dance party while being so personal and delivering the new sound so well. Two more tracks that are super strong and hold their weight amazingly on this record.

Pedestal. One of the angriest tracks on this thing, it’s like the album is delivering a story of going through the motions, and the angle on anger is delivered so much differently than how old Citizen would do this. The instruments aren’t accentuating feelings of rage in your face, like a track off Youth would, but rather inviting the listener to digest Mat’s lyrics and then celebrating what he’s saying with a catchy riff that hooks you in for the next verse. The bass guitar on this thing does not let up and is absolutely incredible, with Mat softly screaming “I gave you my all, and then you shoved it in my face”. The bridge is filled with exhausting and relentless poetry and pays homage to their previous albums in such a new and exciting way and fits on this record so perfectly.

Fight Beat & Black and Red, track #6 and #7 (?!). These aren’t my favorite tracks on the record, more so Fight Beat. Though I’m not a huge fan, I can definitely respect the creativity and experimentality that went into this thing. It sounds like literally like nothing the band has ever made before, and that’s saying a whole lot on a unique album like LIYGW. It’s a weird, manic-ish song like Myxomatosis from Radiohead, and while it’s filled with a lot of interesting things – it’s also pretty hollow. It might not be a song that I typically keep in my playlist rotation, I think it fits super well on this record and was the right step for Citizen to take making a song like this for the fuck of it. Black and Red is a head banger for sure, within the first few seconds of the song it lets listeners know how fun and direct it is. Though I find nothing entirely special about this song either – it’s endlessly catchy and is a fun pop rock song that’s a lot more digestible than a few other songs on here, especially Fight Beat. The instruments are great on Black and Red, like on every other song, I just think there is so much more to offer with other songs on this record.

Glass World, the title track, and the start to the greatest three-track run I’ve ever heard on an album ever, maybe. I love how mellow the song is, how personal the lyrics are; “if life in your glass world makes you feel so alone, why don’t you say so?”. Guitarist Nick Hemm spoke on themes of the album, like glass, and related it to the unexpected fragility of being in your late 20s. Citizen songs have always felt personal, but none like some of the songs off Life in Your Glass World. Songs like Glass World show a real new perspective on things and signs of maturity. This track shows how organic and authentic the band’s proactive creative process was when putting this record together perfectly – the instrumentals are great and catchy and every word has something to say.

Winter Buds. Continuing the greatest track run of all time is a song that I was not super into until quite recently actually. According to Mat Kerekes the song is about asking a younger version of himself if he’s proud of who he is today. It’s one of two tracks on the record where the guitars were written first. The song is profound, ambiguous, catchy in like a MGMT-esque sort of way and has an incredible guitar bridge into the last chorus of the track. “You oughta know a bit better than me” echoes throughout and the recurring themes of glass and blue are scattered on the song. It’s such a solid song that gets stuck in my head all of the time because of how appealing and melodious it is, and is the perfect introduction to the next track on the album. 

Edge of the World, the finishing touch to LIYGW. This song has become my favorite Citizen song throughout the last couple of years and for so many reasons, this is a perfect track for me. To begin with, conceptually, it is the perfect closing track to a record like LIYGW. Every single word touches back to something else that was said on the album, while offering a new, yet reminiscent, outlook on the themes LIYGW has to offer. The song is a self-proclaimed tragedy, but Mat Kerekes won’t let it push him back to his old self. It’s atmospheric, it’s not trying too hard, it’s authentic, and it represents everything the band has told the audience up until this point. In an interview with getalternative.com, Mat Kerekes said that “if it felt right, we went with it. If it didn’t we scrapped or changed it”. This song shows that what he said is so accurate, because even on an endearing song like Edge of the World, you’d have to be deaf to not hear how much fun the band is having. Cutting the first chorus early to go back to an unabating nostalgic second verse is one of my favorite parts about this song. “I remember what it’s like your golden boy in flowers every song for you and I, when we felt easy we felt alright, I looked at you one last time and knew that never again would I sing your name”. This song helped me through such a dark and low place in my life and having this song on repeat was so reassuring that things were bound to get better eventually. The song then follows an intense build up leading up to the last words that we are left with on this record, which, is my favorite part of a song ever, other than the bridge on Hyperview’s Your Pain Is Mine Now. With relentless layering, Mat Kerekes cries out “...but at the end of the day, there is beauty in tragedy, I hope you find what you need, I hope it’s everlasting, I hope you learn to love yourself”. Everything on this record has led up to this very moment on EOTW, and it did not disappoint whatsoever. I could go on and on about how perfect this song is in so many other ways but that is just so tedious. Go listen, now.

Concluding this blog post which I have so ever delayed, this is my favorite record (as if I haven’t said it enough). I love the fact that I’ve been able to grow up and move through new and old feelings with Citizen’s music and this record just allows me to feel things. I saw something on social media a few weeks ago about how everyone is always trying to find something wrong with them and this generation’s obsession with being medicated and seeking help – and that sometimes you just need to experience certain emotions. This album, at least for me, really encapsulates that concept perfectly. The songs on here portray that they aren’t trying to be anyone else and that they are just allowing themselves to feel and it really reflects on the amazing music that came out of this era of Citizen. It provided a new direction for the band, while still very rooted in emo/post-hardcore they proved that they can be and are more than emo. It’s an album of recognizing feelings, living with them, and moving forward. It’s a symbol of hope and it’s the very opposite of some of the bleaker themes in their old music. I can’t stress how much I love the character of this thing without sounding like a broken record. My rating? 10/10. If you have never listened to Citizen or you want something to lose yourself in, please please please give this thing a chance. There is something for everyone on here.

Hyperview - Title Fight

It was nearing the end of my summer at 16 years old some time ago the first time I was introduced to Title Fight. I was scrolling through instagram and a carousel popped up with “New Vision” off of Hyperview as the background track and I was immediately intrigued. Entrancing guitar strums and hollow vocals echoed throughout and closed out what I consider to be a perfect album. I DMed the person running the account (at which I was almost hopeless trying to find what the song’s title was), who ended up responding and sent me down a rabbit hole of music exploration and quite the blessing to my ears. Years later, today, I write this on the bus back from Orono with a Hyperview tattoo on my left arm.

There’s no better way to start out this blog with an album that is so near and dear to my heart. Coupled with Citizen, Title Fight has been one of those bands that I feel as though their music matured so much as their discography progressed. I think Hyperview is the perfect example of this. Before listening to Citizen and Title Fight, my playlists mainly consisted of Lana Del Rey, Frank Ocean, Queen, you know, the basic stuff. But these two bands REALLY, and I mean really led me to the music I love today and are the reasons that I connect so deeply with music.

The record opens with now the most well-known song of the record, Murder Your Memory. A slow, haunting, ballad that despite its speed, doesn’t give up. Murdering the memory of someone is quite vicious, yet something I think most listeners can relate to. The song is exhausted, an interesting, calculated choice to start out an album that completely rocks. The second track, Chlorine, introduces those guitars I fell in love with the first time hearing this album. It’s a strong second track, it’s not too angry, not too angsty, but the lyrics tell the story of an almost vengeful love. Personally, for my playlists, track number three is where Hyperview really starts.

Hypernight has Jamie Rhoden singing his absolute heart out, sounding passionate and uninterested at the same time. Going on and on about “hypernight” and how “I don’t want to see things differently - it’s what I taught myself to believe”. The bass on this track really adds layers of flavor along with the chord progression, which I think is the standout feature on this thing. This track really shows the improvement that the band had since the days of Floral Green. While I think that both of these albums are angry, I think the angst has turned into a calmer, more mellow acceptance perspective – both the lyrics and sound say it all. It seems as though they’ve started looking into themselves instead of pointing the finger at someone else.

Mrahc. Backwards charm. This thing fucking bangs, it simply ROCKS. This is one of those songs you can get your dad to start bobbing his head to. Mrahc has everything I love about Hyperview, personified? Songified? Whatever bruh. “Floating kisses from afar…. Held too close, saw you choke”. You could either be in the best mood of all time, on some ecstasy or some shit, or literally at the worst point of your life – and the lyrics are timeless and relatable no matter what. The guitars, the relentless drums, the mellowness, the passive aggressiveness, it has it allllll dude. I see people in Tiktok comment sections trying to recommend Title Fight to people with songs like Lefty or Safe In Your Skin. Dude… No. They’re so angry and sad, it’s great but it’s like why would someone wanna listen to that? Mrahc punches you in the face with a catchy riff, and the lyrics are kinda like “I don’t give a fuck about you no more, here’s this dope ass song”. Like that’s sooo badass. A must listen for anyone getting into post-hardcore ever. Like ever.

Track number 5, Your Pain is Mine Now. I might be a little biased, but, this is my favorite song on this thing. It’s slow, but then again, it’s like not? Like this thing has my favorite guitar riff ever. It starts off slow, pulling you in, not much going on, an extreme contrast from what listeners got with Mrahc. But it’s like, your pain is mine now? You know? I never thought five words could encapsulate that feeling so well and so simply. That’s one of the things I love so much about Hyperview, it’s so simply. It’s such an easy listen, and if you want it to be deep - it can be deep, that’s up to you. If you just wanna listen to some dope ass music that other people might think is surface level, it gives you that choice. These guys can write a song like a motherfucker, but it seems as though with this record that they’re kind of done explaining themselves, they’re done grabbing at magic cards. Your Pain Is Mine now doesn’t only bang lyrically, I mean sonically it’s just absurd. Like an unreal listening experience. At the height of the song, 2 minutes and 30 seconds in, with the GREATEST guitar riff of all time (in my opinion), the words “Cry, die, boo-hoo” are echoing throughout the track in such a soft and entrancing tone. If you’ve ever experienced the pain of being hurt by someone who is clearly, very hurt, this song really really kicks. It’s this and Edge of the World by Citizen for me, like a perfect clarity moment amidst all the emotion - this song is kind of the height of everything being felt at once. It’s grief, it’s sadness, it’s acceptance, it’s that feeling of like “the fuck?” but also like, “oh okay dope”.

By the time the running time of Hyperview is over, you kind of realize that it’s a progression of emotions. Rose of Sharon, Track 6, brings us back to the screaming days that fans new and old appreciated with their prior records. It’s the song I used when flexing my dopeee ass Hyperview tattoo on Tiktok and although it’s not a personal favorite, the song bangs no matter what. “Can’t escape, I’m a part of you… Do you feel it too? Roses like me need rain”. I mean come on, if that’s not cool as fuck then I don’t know what is. The song is super melancholic, it’s like the soundtrack of chasing something that never was.

Trace Me Onto You is another standout track for me. Coming in at number 7, it’s the stirred pot of everything we’ve got from Hyperview thus far. “I hate you, trace me onto you” kicks your ears in while the drums relentlessly try to drive your emotions up and around on this thing. I think this is the perfect campfire song, like this song tastes like summer and burnt marshmallows to me. The lyrics are profound, and I think it’s another clarity moment. It’s the acceptance of that something that never was - and will never be - and that’s okay. The song has a second part, which circles back to what the band was spewing at us on Track 3, Hypernight. Reiterating “I don’t want to see things differently, it’s what I taught myself to believe” - but I believe that this is the band finally starting to see things differently and it’s an incredible reference. I think sometimes people can undermine the intentions that artists have with doing stuff like this but I think it’s always super fun, and TMOY’s reiteration of this is slow, it’s kind of like, “okay, fine”.

And so we’re onto the last three tracks, Liar’s Love, Dizzy, and New Vision. Which, I think, when complete - bounce off of each other really well. Liar’s Love is slow, it’s coming down from the highs of Trace Me Onto You saying shit like “Don’t count on me, I’m not what you need”. The lyrics are clearer here, the guitars are grasping for those highs but are just as emotionally charged as riffs on previous tracks. Dizzy takes this slow, undertoned approach and brings it to a new level. Slow, this song is sort of a read and response to Murder Your Memory. “Memory loss, your chrysalis” echoes throughout your ears in a sad, revealing, track. It’s like, just when this record kicks into gear, it kind of brings you back down and reminds you that there is no sweetness in the story being told. There’s high highs sonically, and low lows sonically, and they all merge together and blend really well on this thing.

New Vision. Track 10, the closing statement on Hyperview. The first Title Fight song I ever heard, the one that always brings me back to that very specific August when this thing was on repeat ALL of the time. I think this was the perfect way to close out this album, and unfortunately, but, still gracefully Title Fight’s music career. This song bangs in every way possible. Opens up with “Sewn your own faint dream, followed unconditionally” and closes out with it too. He’s going on about no more “basking in the warmth of the past”. This track really really encapsulates what I was trying to describe earlier - like how this album is sort of a progression of emotions, and this is really something that says - “Fuck you, I’m over you, and you need to get over yourself”. I love this thing so so much, like it has such a special place in my heart. Sonically this song is perfect for me and definitely one of those tracks I recommend when people ask about Title Fight.

TL;DR - this record is a perfect 10/10 for me. Absolutely no complaints. I listened to it on repeat when I was 16 and here I am, so much time later, still loving the shit out of this thing. It’s just so timeless, the replay value is incredible, the sounds and the lyrics don’t get old, and it’s hard to believe that this thing came out over 10 years ago even though it still sounds incredibly fresh. It’s helped me through some of the darkest times of my life, it’s also been the soundtrack to some of my fondest memories and that’s what I find so special about it. Obviously I am very biased but like come on. This is Title Fight’s best album by far in my opinion, it’s charged incredibly emotionally but in a mature way comparatively to their previous stuff and it’s just so complete, it’s thorough, it’s simple, and it’s just like wow. If you have not given this thing a listen, please please please do. It’s something you can listen to wherever, with whoever, and whatever mood you’re in. There’s a track for everyone on this thing, or there are 10 tracks for people who fucking get it man.