As You Please
As You Please gives Citizen's heavy alternative rock a wider range of textures. Piano, electronic details and changes in vocal tone sit around the guitars, while the band take more time to develop a mood. The approach suits some of their strongest melodies. It also makes the slower passages harder to overlook when the arrangements stop moving forward.
Jet provides an immediate way into the record. The song is forceful and accessible, with Mat Kerekes' voice giving the hook a clear centre. Yet the surrounding playing is not simply there to support the singing. The instruments work together with enough care to make the familiar rock setting feel more detailed than its first impression suggests.
In The Middle Of It All finds a particularly good balance. The darker verses open into a stronger rhythmic chorus, while Kerekes reaches towards a higher, more dramatic refrain. Its melody gives the changes a purpose, turning the extra space in the arrangement into something the song can use.
World and You Are A Star offer other convincing directions. The former builds a large emotional presence, with an altered vocal sound adding character to the chorus. The latter works through a more hypnotic mood. These are useful examples of Citizen making atmosphere part of the writing rather than a layer placed over it.
Some passages put too much guitar weight behind music that would benefit from a lighter touch. Medicine and Ugly Luck interrupt their momentum with changes that feel less natural than the surrounding grooves.
Control handles the ballad setting more gracefully, while Flowerchild gives the ending a smouldering intensity. Those successes make the uneven stretches more frustrating. Citizen have the playing, vocal range and melodic sense to make their broader ambitions work. As You Please is a good record with several excellent moments, but it does not always turn its added detail into stronger songs. When the parts connect, the result shows exactly why the band were right to keep looking beyond their earlier sound.
