Citizen's Mat Kerekes on 'Halcyon Blues', divorce and writing without a filter

Citizen have released 'Halcyon Blues', and frontman Mat Kerekes has broken down how the record came together in a new interview with Rock Sound. He described every Citizen album as a snapshot, noting that the band tracked this one roughly a year ago and that some songs date back a year and a half or two, which makes presenting them now feel like arriving from the future.

Kerekes said the writing period coincided with major changes in his personal life. He moved home and got divorced, leaving him living alone with, as he put it, no rules and no obligation to speak to anyone. He demoed everything in his living room on his own computer, staying off the internet and listening to nothing but his own works in progress for months, a process he likened to being 16 and making music purely because he loved it.

Lyrically, the singer pointed to pride as the recurring theme, describing a long struggle to balance stubbornness against being too accommodating. He framed the album as a return to the unapologetic, direct approach of early Citizen, after years of trying to be more nuanced so songs would not feel pigeonholed. The shift, he said, was not a conscious decision.

He also reflected on the band's recent celebration of debut album 'Youth'. Comparisons to their best-known work do not bother him, and he believes Citizen are fortunate enough to experiment and still be well received. Onstage, he noticed a split: fan favourites fill the room with singing, while lesser-known, more energetic songs push crowds into wilder physical reactions. Things that once frustrated him about the band now energise him. Kerekes closed by describing music as an emotional release, adding that melancholy has always been the tone that fits Citizen best.