|
|
CITAY - Self Titled
imprec071 - CD/LP - $10
Out of San Francisco, Citay is a new project by Ezra Feinberg,
formerly of Piano Magic (4AD), in collaboration with Tim
Green from The Fucking Champs (Drag City).
Citay, named for the way the word "city" is often
sung, is a powerful, elegiac blend of seemingly disparate musical
elements. Taking its cue from the dramatic song structures of 1970s
AM rock, Citay combines Led Zeppelin acoustic guitars
and organs with soaring guitar harmonies and lush, choral voices.
The influences of the early records of Mike Oldfield, Roy
Harper, John Fahey, and more recently the Japanese band
Ghost can be heard as well. Certain moments sound like the
long, baroque intros of Metallica songs (before the metal
takes over) while other moments unleash themselves in triumphant
builds and emotional landings. The sound is rounded out by breezy,
distinctly psych-ed vocal harmonies of The Byrds and The
Beach Boys, adding a blissed-out flavor to the blend. The result
is something entirely new. With smoking Thin Lizzy dual leads
and California vocal harmonies, Citay will soon be enchanting the
kids from the city to the country and back again.
After spending 6 years in the indie rat race of Williamsburg, Brooklyn,
Ezra Feinberg moved to San Francisco to record with Tim
Green of The Fucking Champs, a veteran of the SF scene
who moved to the Bay Area after time in Washington, D.C. as a member
of that city's seminal punk band The Nation Of Ulysseys.
Feinberg and Green had been friends for a while and enjoyed
a mutual love of old psychedelic and proto-metal records. Tired
of asymmetrical haircuts and hipsters talking about Gang Of Four
all the time, Feinberg arrived to the West Coast searching for those
moments of rock history that had fallen off the radar. Work on Citay
began in the fall of 2004.
Accoring to Feinberg:
"When Citay started I had been thinking of acoustic
Led Zep and the first 2 Heart
albums (Dreamboat Annie and Little Queen). Also
the drama throughout Queen II, and the trippy/spooky Black
Sabbath bongo songs where Ozzy's voice has tons of chorus to
make
it kind of watery and lava-lamp-y. Led Zep, Heart,
and Sabbath are
not really known for their acoustic moments, and I hadn't heard
anyone taking a cue from that stuff and I felt like it was time
someone
tried to do something new with those ideas... "
Citay is produced by Tim Green who has produced albums
by
Sleater-Kinney, Comets On Fire, The Melvins,
The Donnas, Bikini Kill,
Trans Am, and many others.
Reviews
|
