Artist: Citizen
Album: Halcyon Blues
Label: Run For Cover Records
Genre: Alternative Rock / Emo / Post-Hardcore / Indie Rock
Release: 7 August 2026
Tracks: 11
🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸 5/5 Guitars
Citizen have never been interested in standing still.
Across nearly two decades, the Ohio/Michigan outfit have moved through emo, post-hardcore, alternative rock, post-punk and indie without ever completely abandoning the emotional intensity that first made people fall in love with them.
And on Halcyon Blues, all those different versions of Citizen appear to meet in the same room.
This isn’t Youth Part II.
Nor should it be.
Instead, Halcyon Blues sounds like a band completely comfortable with where they’ve been and considerably more interested in where they’re heading.
It’s melancholic.
It’s atmospheric.
Sometimes it’s bloody enormous.
Other times it’s almost painfully intimate.
And underneath everything is that unmistakable Citizen ability to make sadness sound strangely beautiful.
Right then.
Headphones on. Lights down.
Let’s get emotional, mun. 🖤🎧
💿
Track Listing
- Good Fortune
- I Can See You From Here
- Halcyon Blues
- Is It In My Brain?
- Always the Last One to Leave
- Either Way
- Matador
- Ether
- Smooth Talker
- Highs and Lows
- Anne
🎵
Track-by-Track Review
1. Good Fortune
Citizen open proceedings with confidence rather than chaos.
Good Fortune immediately introduces the album’s central contradiction: there’s warmth within the music, yet something darker constantly lurks underneath.
Mat Kerekes sounds fantastic, delivering every line with that familiar sense that even relatively straightforward words are carrying considerably more emotional baggage than they’re letting on.
A beautifully understated beginning.
🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸
2. I Can See You From Here
Here’s where Halcyon Blues really starts sinking its claws in.
There’s an immediate melodic quality to I Can See You From Here, but Citizen never sacrifice atmosphere for accessibility.
The guitars shimmer.
The rhythm section pushes everything forward.
And that chorus?
Yeah.
Good luck getting rid of that later.
🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸
3. Halcyon Blues
The title track is gorgeous.
Simple as that.
Citizen lean into their dreamier side, creating an almost weightless atmosphere while subtle instrumentation gives the song an unusual cinematic quality.
There’s sadness here, but it doesn’t feel hopeless.
Instead, Halcyon Blues feels like remembering something wonderful while simultaneously accepting that you’ll never experience it quite the same way again.
Oof.
Straight in the feels.
🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸
4. Is It In My Brain?
Things get considerably stranger.
There’s nervous energy throughout Is It In My Brain?, with the instrumentation constantly creating tension beneath Kerekes’ vocals.
It feels restless.
Uncertain.
Almost claustrophobic.
Citizen resist the temptation to immediately release that tension, making the track increasingly effective as it progresses.
One of the album’s most intriguing moments.
🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸
5. Always the Last One to Leave
Right.
Who brought the emotional damage?
Always the Last One to Leave is beautifully vulnerable, allowing space within the arrangement to become just as important as the instruments themselves.
It’s intimate without becoming fragile.
Sad without becoming melodramatic.
And precisely the sort of song you absolutely should not put on after three pints while scrolling through photographs from 2012.
You’ve been warned. 😂🖤
🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸
6. Either Way
One of those songs that sneaks up on you.
The first listen?
Lovely.
Third listen?
Hang on…
Sixth listen?
Why am I singing this while making a cup of tea?
Either Way demonstrates Citizen’s knack for melodies that don’t immediately demand attention but gradually become impossible to shake.
🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸
7. Matador
The guitars sharpen their teeth here.
Matador introduces more bite into the album, bringing some of Citizen’s heavier instincts back towards the surface.
There’s swagger beneath the frustration, creating a track that feels considerably more confrontational than what surrounds it.
Live, this should absolutely slap.
🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸
8. Ether
After Matador bares its teeth, Ether allows everything to float again.
Dreamy guitars and spacious arrangements create one of the album’s most atmospheric moments.
There’s something wonderfully hypnotic about it.
Close your eyes and disappear for a few minutes.
🎸🎸🎸🎸
9. Smooth Talker
Enough floating.
Time for some attitude.
Smooth Talker brings another welcome dose of aggression, with sharper guitars and a more confrontational vocal performance.
Citizen sound particularly comfortable when balancing melody with bitterness.
And there’s plenty of both here.
🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸
10. Highs and Lows
Massive.
Absolutely massive.
Highs and Lows feels like the emotional payoff the album has gradually been building towards.
The instrumentation expands, the drums push everything forward and the melodies suddenly feel widescreen.
It’s powerful without becoming bombastic.
One of the record’s undeniable highlights.
🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸
11. Anne
And finally, Anne.
Citizen don’t attempt to end Halcyon Blues by smashing everything to pieces.
Instead, they let the record breathe.
It’s reflective, cinematic and quietly devastating.
As the final moments disappear, there’s that beautiful little pause where you realise you’re not quite ready to leave the album yet.
So naturally…
Back to track one.
🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸
🔥
The Breakdown
🎤
Vocals
🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸
Mat Kerekes remains one of alternative rock’s most emotionally distinctive singers. Nothing feels forced.
🎸
Guitars
🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸
Shimmering melodies, abrasive distortion and atmospheric textures coexist beautifully.
🥁
Rhythm Section
🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸
Never flashy simply for the sake of it. Everything serves the songs, while the bigger moments hit with enormous impact.
🎧
Production
🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸
Rich, spacious and beautifully detailed without polishing away the emotional intimacy.
✍️
Songwriting
🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸
This is where Halcyon Blues really shines. These aren’t songs desperately chasing instant gratification—they reward spending time with them.
🏆
Standout Tracks
🌊 Halcyon Blues
🖤 Always the Last One to Leave
🔥 Matador
⚡ Highs and Lows
🌙 Anne
🤘
The Riff Report Verdict
Halcyon Blues isn’t an album desperately trying to remind everyone who Citizen used to be.
That’s precisely why it’s so good.
The emotional DNA of those early records remains everywhere, but years of experimentation have given Citizen a considerably larger musical toolbox.
They know when to get loud.
They know when to disappear into atmosphere.
And perhaps most importantly, they know when to leave space.
There’s confidence in that restraint.
These songs don’t repeatedly punch you in the chest demanding an emotional reaction.
They wait.
And then somewhere around listen number three, you suddenly realise they’ve quietly moved into your head and started rearranging the furniture.
Sneaky sods.
Citizen have made an album about emotional contradictions that sounds appropriately contradictory itself.
Dark but strangely comforting.
Melancholic but never hopeless.
Mature without becoming boring.
Beautiful without becoming overly polished.
Halcyon Blues feels less like Citizen searching for their next identity and more like a band realising they don’t actually need one.
They can simply be Citizen.
THE RIFF REPORT RATING
🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸
5/5 GUITARS
Melancholic. Atmospheric. Vulnerable. Beautiful.
Citizen have delivered an album that doesn’t shout for your attention—it quietly earns it. And once Halcyon Blues gets its hooks into you, good luck getting the bugger out. 🖤🌊🤘
Michael is the founder, editor, and chief riff wrangler behind The Riff Report, an independent Welsh rock and metal publication built by fans, for fans. With a lifelong passion for loud guitars, unforgettable live shows, and the incredible community that surrounds rock and metal, he created The Riff Report to celebrate everything that makes the scene special—from legendary headline acts and grassroots venues to rising bands that deserve to be heard.
A familiar face at festivals across the UK, Michael spends much of the year covering events including Download Festival, Bloodstock Open Air, Steelhouse Festival, Firevolt, Plumpton Revival, and many more. Whether he’s battling the Welsh weather on a mountainside, surviving a weekend in a muddy campsite, or squeezed against the front barrier with thousands of fellow fans, he’s always searching for the next great story to share.
As editor of The Riff Report, Michael writes festival guides, breaking news, album reviews, gig reviews, interviews, opinion pieces, nostalgia features, and behind-the-scenes stories from across the rock and metal world. His writing combines honest opinions, humour, and a genuine love for live music, bringing readers closer to the bands, festivals, venues, and people that keep the scene alive.
Michael is particularly passionate about supporting independent artists, local venues, charities, and the wider UK rock and metal community. He believes every band deserves a chance to be discovered and every festival has a story worth telling. Through The Riff Report, he aims to shine a spotlight on both the biggest names in rock and the future stars waiting to break through.
When he’s not writing or interviewing artists, you’ll probably find him exploring festival campsites, photographing live shows, chatting with fellow fans over a pint, or planning the next road trip in search of more riffs, bigger crowds, and unforgettable moments.
Above all, Michael believes rock and metal are about more than music—they’re about community, friendship, and creating memories that last a lifetime. That’s exactly what The Riff Report exists to celebrate.
Proudly Welsh. Proudly Loud. Always chasing the next great riff. 🤘
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