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.