It’s always been harder for me to fall in love with newer emo bands after that “phase” in my life, but northern Ohio post-hardcore band Citizen has changed that perception for me.

They add a modern twist with erratic synth glistening in the background and mostly electronic percussion. Wasner’s voice, as always, steals the show as she belts out triumphantly “You Are Mine / This is what you wanted to know” in the starkly different chorus.

The highlight of the album is the song “Love Me Like I’m Gone,” a folky and breezy, yet heartbreaking, love song. Ayer ruminates morbidly about how utterly destroyed he’d be if his love were to pass, and his hopes that they’d feel the same way about him.

Fair warning: this is one of those “high school” albums for me. You know the ones–the albums that helped get you through the times when you were young and everything seemed to have so much weight; the albums that made the world seem bigger when…

…Distance Gone is a standout track. Combining dreamy electronic elements with a smooth jazz guitar backing, it’s a slow, floating song carried artfully by Patrick Fiore’s soft-spoken vocals.

While always carrying that electro-folk genre on their shoulders, they certainly were more on the folk side of things before Skrillex recruited them on his OWSLA label. This album is miles away from their folky origins and, to great surprise, it really works.

I hate to be this topical, but King Krule’s Dum Surfer sounds like a fucking hurricane. The song starts off in an uneasy lull. It sounds like a King Krule song, but why’s it buried so deep in the mix? And, what’s with this churning…

Thanks to lead singer Andrea Lo’s soulful vocals they’re able to keep that soulful R&B vibe as they inject a heavy dose of elecropop into their sound.

It’s not often an artist can really catch you off guard with their lyrics. Forced Witness frequently, and in line with his first album, presents some lyrical tongue-in-cheek poetry detailing character focused stories.

Untitled is an expansion of these strange but awesome sounding mash of genres and, more broadly, his artistic approach to music.