Citizen

Citizen fuse bombastic emo-pop with post-hardcore, shoegaze, punk, and dense, chunky indie rock to shape a distinctive Midwestern sound. The Toledo outfit surfaced in the early 2010s and has issued a consistent run of vigorous, high-intensity releases—Everybody Is Going to Heaven (2015), Life in Your Glass World (2021), and Calling the Dogs (2023)—each one distinctive yet stylistically far-reaching.

Drawn from Southeast Michigan and Northwest Ohio, the group came together in 2009 and moved swiftly into activity, putting out three 7" singles plus the EP Young States. After signing with Run for Cover Records, they delivered their debut full-length, Youth, during summer 2013 shortly before appearing on that year’s Vans Warped Tour. Following the late-2014 single “Silo,” they revealed plans for their second album, the widely praised Everybody Is Going to Heaven, which surfaced in June 2015. On their third LP, As You Please, which emerged in 2017, longtime producer Will Yip helped them broaden their palette through extra instrumentation and further sonic exploration. The punchy single “I Want to Kill You” arrived in January 2021, preceding the emo experimentalist’s fourth album, Life in Your Glass World. For the fifth long-player, former touring musicians Ben Russin (drums) and Mason Mercer (guitar) joined Mat Kerekes (vocals) alongside brothers Nick (lead guitar) and Eric Hamm (bass). Calling the Dogs, released in 2023, presented a fervent collection of distortion-heavy anthems and ballads that encompassed the band’s full range of sonic leanings.