It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of Electric Citizen. It's been four years since they blasted into my life with 2014's Sateen and it seems like with each successive release they have only grown to be bigger and better. Helltown, a record named after the neighborhood in Cincinnati where this album was recorded is just another piece in the thrilling legacy of this band. A group who refuse to play by the rules but instead building their own take on stoner rock this is the sort of riff driven magic I love.
Topping off a Black Sabbath inspired attack and Laura Dolan's searing vocals, is a shimmering Hammond Organ. More than almost any of their peers, Electric Citizen understand the pure and simple magic of the old school stuff. There is something undeniably fun about their music and it's seated in a deep and thoughtful understanding of what makes riff driven music so great. Yet with this record we also see the band embracing an intensity and a drive greater than any they have showcased before. The drive behind a track like Hide It In The Night can't help but to excite. Dolan's voice is lush with personality, and her performance on the album closer, undeniably the records weirdest track, Mother's Little Reject, shows us that Electric Citizen do not take themselves too seriously.
This is an album that touches on all the cornerstones of the Electric Citizen sound. This is a group who are wonderfully self aware. This is a group who understand that rock and roll is best left pure. This is a group who want us to be as in love with the power of this music as they are. Once you get that, once you get the pure honesty of Helltown it becomes impossible not to fall in love with everything that they have brought to the table. It's rare to find groups with this kind of vision, but here we are, it's magic, bizarre and a whole boatload of fun.
Find them on Facebook!
https://www.facebook.com/ElectricCitizen/
Pre-order here:
https://electriccitizenband.bandcamp.com/album/helltown
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