Citizen
As You Please
Release Date: Oct 6, 2017
Genre(s): Pop/Rock
Record label: Run for Cover Records
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Album Review: As You Please by Citizen
Very Good, Based on 7 Critics
Based on rating 4
WHAT'S DIFFERENT: Citizen have made for one of the scene's most interesting and evolutionary acts, shifting from passable pop punk to hazy emo and then to jarring noise rock in the vein of Brand New's Daisy. While the BN influence and similarly dark moods remain on As You Please, Citizen are as creative and expansive as ever, yet more accessible. As You Please is patient, breathy, sweeping and slower-moving than usual, chock full of unexpected tics—tonal effects, falsetto vocal flourishes, piano, acoustic intercuts, keyboards, electronic glitches—while remaining firmly in the alt-rock lane.
Based on rating 4/5
On ‘As You Please’, Citizen continue to prove that they’re a group committed to tweaking and developing their sound. This third album is more about personal turmoil than political protest, but the quintet’s Midwestern origins do provide an additional level of grounding resonance to the record’s more open-ended, existential questions and scenes. Their brand of emotive rock has always excelled at capturing that ‘Where do we go from here?’ feeling of waywardness, and ‘As You Please’ manages to do that well throughout.
Based on rating 8/10
For this third full-length, Michigan's Citizen have thrown the doors of their identity wide open. Embedded within these 12 dark, unsettling tracks are stories of people struggling, searching for room to breathe in the world among others who are dragging them beneath the waves. 'In The Middle Of It All' and the title track glower with sinister intent, while 'I Forgive No One' documents a harrowing crisis without even attempting to find a spark of redemption. It all combines to make Citizen's gloomiest, most atmospheric record yet – and also one of the most disturbing of the year so far.
Based on rating 7.5/10
Everybody in particular was a going away party for their former selves (with the exception of the balls-out heavy “Stain”). This brings us to their latest offering, As You Please, a record that essentially waves goodbye to their past without completely leaving it behind. AYP 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 Everybody didn’t already. It’s also the band’s strongest set of songs to date.
Based on rating 7/10
The evolution of Citizen continues as the Midwestern indie rockers explore new themes and tones on album number three. With 2015's Everybody Is Going to Heaven, Citizen made a significant move away from the more hardcore/emo-oriented style of their younger days, homing in on a tightly focused, deeply intense sound that paired post-rock dissonance with occasionally melodic punk. On As You Please, the quintet -- whose members are split between Detroit and Toledo -- combines some of the cathartic elements of its debut with the brooding complexity of Heaven, while introducing subtle pop undertones to the mix.
Based on rating 5/10
You can't blame Citizen for trying, but as the Midwestern band's recent output shows, sometimes trying too hard can do more harm than good. The band's debut, 2013's Youth, was a potent blend of pop-punk, grunge and emo that struck a chord with fans. But they were still young, and it showed, and the next step was to push themselves creatively, to seek out a sound that represented more than a melange of their quite visible influences. The followup, Everybody Is Going to Heaven, was that exploratory endeavour that, while undercooked ….
Opinion: Fantastic
Like most bands on Run For Cover Records, Citizen has an ever-changing catalog of songs. The band has made some drastic changes throughout the years while still staying true to their sound. On As You Please.
'As You Please'
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