Citizens - Are We There Yet?
(Yellow Ball)
Yet another self-released debut (must be spring!), this New York quartet mixes avant-garde insanity with the occasional catchy rhythm to create an awkward listening experience that's as subtle as a car crash, yet just as strangely alluring. Rubberneckers unite for a fool-hearty romp through the Residents-inspired, lounge lizard lunacy of a completely fucked "Deck Full of Jokers" that makes Tom Waits sound sober, and the confrontational, conversational confessional, "Mussolini's First Crush," with singer/lyricist/keyboardist Mark Lesseraux combining Steven Tyler, Axl Rose and Jim Morrison into one outrageously over-the-top crooner. Too bad the song cuts off mid-sentence, as if someone backstage grabbed him by the throat with "The Hook."
From opener "What's Happening At The Seams," which joins the band midsong, pulling the listener in four different directions at once, to the swaggering, snotty hard rock of the Aerosmith-inspired, "A Thing For You" and "Catch You On The Way Down," to the sheer brilliance of "In B For Backward," an ironically irreverent, spot-on parody of the pretentiousness of Thom Yorke and Radiohead and their ilk, it's clear this is not going to be an easy listening experience. And that's a good thing. I'm tired of all the over-hyped, unlistenable garbage coming out of NY these days, be it Strokes or Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and the Citizens are a refreshing alternative.
"Kaleidoscope (Do You Recall)" is a tender, change of pace ballad with some tasty guitar licks from Thom Loubet, and the Steeley Dan-ish "King Kong" will have Becker and Fagen fans nodding their heads and stroking their beards in approval. Felicity Fenton brings a refreshing warmth to the macho posturings with her elegant duet on "You Might Be Right," and there's even a wacky Elephant 6-ish vibe-think Neutral Milk Hotel-meets-Olivia Tremor Control-on the theatrical "Tell Me Something I Don't Know," complete with Beach Boy harmonies and string arrangements straight out of Witch Hazel Sound and High Llamas.
While not as ear-catchingly brilliant as New York's finest new discovery, Famous, Are We There Yet? offers hope that the Big Apple may still have some tricks up its sleeve and is a promising debut from a band to watch out for.
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