Electric Citizen – EC4

Released by: Heavy Psych Sounds

Release Date: 27.06.25

Running Time: 38:27

Review by Dark Juan

Score: 567,324,197/10

Bet you thought you had got rid of me didn’t you? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA it’s going to take more that. While it is true that there has been something of an enforced absence from your least favourite ersatz Metal scribe, I have managed to crowbar a bit of time into my ridiculously busy life to spend some time with you, dear friends. The reason I have not been as prolific as usual is mainly because I have discovered that having a job with a decent salary means that my employers actually expect me to work harder. This is something of a shock. Also, my hours used to mean that I had mucho spare time to listen to tunes and write (eventually) about them. This has changed as I now do a bog standard 9-5 unless there is an emergency. There are a lot of emergencies in my work. And Mrs Dark Juan keeps expecting me to do things for her at weekends. Although she did recently ask me to go the fridge and get her a beer but do it quickly in case I didn’t get there before it closed.

I got her the beer after I had picked myself up off the floor, where I had ended up after laughing until I couldn’t breathe any more.

Still, I’m here now. Fashionably late as always, sweating like I am on a rape charge as it is hotter than Satan’s arsehole in my little corner of West Yorkshire and in considerable pain thanks to a rotator cuff tear in my right shoulder. Eeh, life’s grand when you stop to think about it.

Instead of moaning, though, I have done the sensible thing and got mildly drunk and pulled the Platter of Splatter ™ back out of its alcove and given it a thorough dusting, before slinging a disc upon it. That disc is by the Cincinnati-based band called Electric Citizen and “EC4” is – guess what? Yes, you good little soldier, it is their fourth album! Thank god for Count Von Count on Sesame Street, eh? He taught us all. Although there have been really significant amounts of children on Sesame Street who were never seen again after their appearance. And there is a counting Count who is a vampire. What if he is mocking us all and counting his victims, and we have been lapping up his wilful murders as entertainment since we were children?

You bastards.

Let us concentrate on Electric Citizen instead of developing theories about whether there are serial murderers operating in Sesame Street. The band (who are a five-piece popular beat combo) take us into the world that is beloved of Dark Juan, the world of swirling rainbows, metric fucktons of LSD and other non-specific party treats because no narcs are ratting me out, guvnor, and coruscating sounds that is Pyschedelia. Yes, I am a happy camper when there’s a band that allows me to contemplate my own navel and transport myself to the outer reaches of consciousness. Electric Citizen have taken this creamy, dreamy world of Psychedelia and married it to the sharp sounds of proto-Hard Rock. There’s distortion and fuzz and riffs that abound throughout “EC4” but they aren’t Metal. They are the sound of what birthed Metal. They are welded to keyboards and Hammond organ and the Blues, and the mighty power of the ineffable Groove is all. We are not dealing with power here. We are dealing with the fluidity of existence, the amino acid building blocks of life in musical form and the wistfulness of existence, beautifully brought to life with the wistful tones of vocalist Laura Dolan (what is it with me reviewing American Psychedelic Rockers with lead singers called Laura? Did it with Hippie Death Cult last month and here we are again…) who wafts and waves and swoops ethereally through soundscapes that owe as much to Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin as they do to Hawkwind and Yes – Electric Citizen are just as adept at searing 70s Prog Rock as they are at heavily distorted Heavy Rock stomp-a-thons. In fact, Electric Citizen operate in similar strata to Scandinavian Rockers Lucifer and the progenitors of Satanic Shock Rock, Coven.

Neither of whom feature singers called Laura.

However, their music still represents a mightily effective blueprint for enjoyment. Opening track ‘Mire’ weds 80s Rock guitar with a soft, introspective Psychedelic bent, underpinned by the incredibly sweet vocal of Laura Dolan. Imagine Ghost, Hawkwind and Gentle Giant in an even more confusing than usual menage-a-trois. And then chuck some scuzzy Pub Rock in there for good measure. It is kooky, left-field music, but retains the hard edge that the likes of Rosalie Cunningham only flirts with even though they inhabit a similar, velvet catsuit clad world where amps are valve-driven and guitars are classic Gibson SGs. If you’re a fan of Blood Ceremony, you are gonna fucking dig Electric Citizen. ‘Smokey’ even has a hint of flute and Hammond hiding behind a brisk tempo and an achingly smooth vocal delivery. Even the mightiest-thewed warrior of Metal, sword grasped in a mailed fist and standing atop a pile of his eviscerated victims while he unfurls a Black Sabbath banner (yes, I am being sarcastic because there are still some fucking gatekeepers out there who passionately believe that Metal should remain in 1985 forever) doesn’t want to listen to Metal all the time. This is what bands like Electric Citizen are for. They are unusual enough to not go anywhere near popular music but are still heavy enough to please the most Metal of listeners. Although to properly appreciate Electric Citizen you do need to understand and know the building blocks of Metal, the Giants, the Sir Lord Baltimores, the Mountains… Only a sophisticated listener will get Electric Citizen.

Needless to say, Dark Juan is quite the fan. Mainly because he absolutely digs the fuck out of chunky riffing, Prog and Hard Rock mashed together and sweet, sonorous female vocals and grooves that last for aeons when you are tripping your bollocks off. Electric Citizen do things to my pleasure centres that you don’t want to be speculating about. Their melding of everything that made Metal great yet remaining almost timeless, their contemporary yet also retro sound makes Dark Juan weep with untrammelled joy. Or it would if Dark Juan had any fucking feelings at all.

Oh, and album closer ‘Flower of Salt’ is an almightily magnificent piece of Prog joy. It’s just out there, man, and Dark Juan is fucking HERE for it.

The Patented Dark Juan Blood Splat Rating System has been dragged out of the cupboard and reactivated. It has cogitated upon the merits of Electric Citizen and awarded them 567,324,197/10 for a record that is just an absolute joy from start to finish. Yet another triumph from the legends at Heavy Psych Sounds!

TRACKLISTING:

1. Mire

2. Static Vision

3. Smokey

4. Traveler's Moon

5. Tuning Tree

6. Moss

7. Lizard Brain

8. Other Planets

9. Flower of Salt

LINE-UP:

Ross Dolan - Guitar

Laura Dolan - Vocals

Nick Vogelpohl - Bass

Nate Wagner - Drums

Owen Lee – Keyboards

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