When a Perfect Album Meets Perfect Timing | Pandemic Music | Citizen (Band) “Youth” Album (2013)

The Band: Citizen “The Summer” Song & Lyrics

Album: Youth (2013)

Youth (2013) is a classic album that perfectly captures a certain essence of the 90’s🌺If you like Title Fight Floral Green record, then Youth is in the same vein.

The last major time I re-visited this album was during a time where I found myself alone in 2020 at the start of the pandemic, I had just experienced the end of a 13-year relationship, and of course my go-to albums were doom and gloom, and give me everything emo, right? The timing of it all! The concept of time just becomes a funny thing to ponder when life comes to a halt, and then suddenly, time doesn’t exist to you anymore. The years that followed 2020 were some strange times… (let’s take a shot for every time I say “time”), but also a very introspective time.

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During the lockdown, I got to discover more from Citizen, as well as a lot of music that I overlooked. I got into some new music, music I forgot about or didn’t know about, and this album just so happened to kick off 2020 for me in the most profound way. The pandemic gave me the opportunity to listen to a lot of albums all the way through, from start to finish.

Since then, my appreciation for music has increased, and along with it comes a certain appreciation you begin to develop for albums that you didn’t realize before. For instance, in the past year or so, I finally devoted some time to dive into Fleetwood Mac/Stevie Nicks albums and discovered so many gems I never knew about. I grew up on Fleetwood but never took the time to really get into their albums.

Roughly between the years of 2005 and 2020, I went through a long period of mainly listening to metal music. I consumed a great deal of that whole umbrella (still love to this day, of course). Nowadays, things have evened out, and I listen to so many different other genres of music on a regular basis.

All in all, Youth will always be a special album for me to continuously re-visit; it’s a timeless gem from the band, and even though it took the pandemic for me to realize how much I loved the album, as opposed to the past, when I had their songs scattered throughout my iPod, the timing couldn’t have been perfect.

Photography by Jonathan Weiner and Tracy Nguyen

FACTS:

Citizen are American Alternative Rock/Emo/Grunge band from Michigan & Ohio.

The band formed in 2009.

Youth was their debut studio album with producer Will Yip.

Before Youth, was their Young States EP (2011)

Latest Album: Calling the Dogs (2023)

What albums or songs were a turning point in your life during the Pandemic?