Review Summary: Electric Citizen’s heavy psych gets a mellower palette cleanse
Electric Citizen’s fourth album sees the Ohio group coming from a seven-year gap since their last effort, 2018’s Helltown, with a more mellow outlook. The appropriately titled EC4 is right in line with their established seventies-inspired heavy psych and keeps to a similar driving pace, but the execution has a more laid back feel than their harder-hitting past outings. It is close in spirit to the dreamier side of Ruby The Hatchet while also drawing parallels to Graveyard’s recent output.
That may be a bit of an exaggeration as the album starts off with a tug o’war between dynamics. “Mire” sets a hazy overcast that envelopes the listener with wafting vocals accompanied by organs and an acoustic-electric guitar blend prone to occasional bursts of fanfare while “Static Vision” sees breezy strums set to a fuzzy undercurrent. “Smokey” is a notably heavy outlier that really plays up Uriah Heep inspiration with beefier guitars, faster drums, and bubbling keys.
Once the somber ebb and flow of “Traveler’s Moon” takes hold, the album’s demeanor gets brought into focus. I appreciate how there’s still some variety at play as “Tuning Tree” feels like a full-on folk exercise complete with what sounds like cello while maintaining an ominous edge while “Moss” and the closing “Flower of Salt” lend themselves especially well with spacey balladry. “Lizard Brain” and “Other Planets” also make for doomy standouts, the former putting in more of that heavy attitude while the latter dips into a more exotic sounding slow burn.
Overall, Electric Citizen’s heavy psych gets a splendid palette cleanse with EC4. A more mellow presentation suits the band’s seventies influences quite well, sharing the DNA of what came before without feeling derivative and offering more introspective material. There are admittedly moments where the band could’ve used a bit more of that alluring appeal seen with the best of their peers but it’s ultimately a cohesive presentation. 2016’s Higher Time might still be my personal pick for Electric Citizen’s most definitive release but this is just as well-rounded.
