Citay Live the Dream
Born out of some mythically fogless San Francisco, the acid folk/rock collective Citay embody those parts of the afternoon whereby the sun, always present but never so much so as to be blinding, feels like it’s never going to go away and you, lying in the grass of some wonderfully maintained park space or public square, are rendered immortal. Over the course of three albums — 2006’s self-titled, 2007’s Little Kingdom and now, via Dead Oceans, 2010’s Dream Get Together — have delicately balanced avant garde fervor with traditional songwriting, with results both fresh and intriguing. Unlike many in this or that subset of art rock, Citay prove that experimental music doesn’t necessarily have to be abrasive.
Tim Green (The Fucking Champs) once again acts as producer for Dream Get Together, and it seems as though the title is nothing more than an apt description of what, by the estimation of principal songwriter, acoustic guitarist and occasional vocalist Ezra Feinberg, took place on the album. Joining Feinberg in Citay for Dream Get Together are electric guitarists Sean Smith and Josh Pollack, bassist Diego Gonzalez, drummer Warren Huegel and vocalists Tahlia Harbour and Meryl Press, and while the names may not be immediately recognizable in terms of tabloid covers, some were around for Little Kingdom, and it’s abundantly clear in listening to the record that Feinberg knew exactly what he was doing when compiling this lineup of his band.
Since the album’s eight tracks vary broadly in terms of sound, the best approach in reviewing them seems to be track by track. Although this can sometimes feel like taking notes on audio standouts rather than going underneath the surface with analysis or anything like that (even in self-indulgent blog reviews, time is a factor and there is such a thing as going overboard), I’d ask you think of it more as an expositive sampling of what Dream Get Together has to offer than a comprehensive look at the album’s breadth. Just so long as we understand each other.
On opener “Careful with that Hat,” we get reintroduced to Citay with a ‘70s lead guitar line of a sweet, semi-fuzzy tone that pops up again throughout the record. The song is an instrumental jam of brightly colored psychedelic folk that fades out after nearly seven minutes, giving the suggestion that it went on for much longer. “Careful with that Hat” is followed by the 55-second sonic curio “Return from Silence,” which, with just a drone topped by ringing guitar notes, feels like little more than a bridge between the first track’s fade and the rest of Dream Get Together. It doesn’t take enough time to be offensive, just out of place with the rest of the tracks. But then, that might also be its charm.
The third and title track is when we first get vocals. “Dream Get Together” melds soft pop with heavy rock undertones. Were Huegel’s drums not given such light treatment — obviously a purposeful choice on the part of Green and/or Feinberg — this would be a much heavier song, but as it is, it feels like the real beginning of the album. At the same time, to open with it might have been too predictable-sounding. We can already see that as much as one might want to question the structure of Citay’s latest, every move made with the record sonic and otherwise offers its own justification. This is one of the album’s strongest assets.
“Secret Breakfast” brings back the sweet lead tone in instrumental fashion and marries it with sitar and bongo percussion with a subtle build of noise that gradually pays off, and “Mirror Kisses” commences Dream Get Together’s more substantial back half with folky acoustic guitar strumming and bass before Harbour and Press’ dual vocals have my ears longing for summer. The song’s bright atmosphere and more traditional feel make it a highlight in terms of execution and accessibility, and as it’s seated next to “Hunter,” which takes Six Organs of Admittance’s bedroom feel into fuller, open spaces, the progression of the record is becoming increasingly clear. “Hunter” is also instrumental, but with more character than “Secret Breakfast,” and it shows that vocals and other elements of the album are meant to be experienced in passages. There is something temporal about the construction, and even though “Hunter” and its follower “Fortunate Son” (not a CCR cover) top seven minutes, there’s something fleeting about both of them as well.
“Fortunate Son” is the most rhythmically driving song of the bunch, which means a poppier feel. It comes of as a solid complement to the title cut with multi-tracked vocals in dialog with those that preceded them. As the back half of the song breaks into guitar and bass exploration, Dream Get Together begins to feel concluded, but a cover of Galaxie 500’s “Tugboat” awaits. Citay give the song from the late ‘80s indie band a respectful treatment, using it as a launch point for reaching through the mix in multiple directions like grabbing hands while somehow holding onto the original structure. You could spend a week wondering how they pull it off, or you could enjoy it. Pretty much your call.
Dream Get Together feels more memorable than Little Kingdom and reaffirms the attraction to Citay altogether. The playful psychedelics and folk nuances offer as much to hear as the listener’s ear is willing to find, and Feinberg’s songwriting growth is clear as regards both experimental and more structured approaches. For what it’s worth, Dream Get Together has plenty of both, and so should have a broad appeal to a wide variety of open-minded sorts, whether or not this kind of thing is usually their kind of thing.
Citay, “Mirror Kisses”
Mirror Kisses
Citay, “Careful with that Hat”
Careful with that Hat
