It has been a great six months for new releases from Greensboro bands, and “The Meeting After The Meeting” by Citified gives us proof that the best is always yet to come. Just released on Eskimo Kiss Records, Meeting is a collection of seven, tremendously beautiful songs. Singer and songwriter Chris Jackson pretty much made the group’s last record on his own in 2005, recording all the instruments and using drum machines for his rhythm section. While that was a refreshingly listenable and gorgeous record from beginning to end, “The Meeting After The Meeting” improves upon the band’s original vision by leaps and bounds. With live instrumentation from guitarist Franklin Kane, drummer Eric Ussery, and bassist Diego Diaz, the record gives off a warm, full sound, with tiny nuances that appear with each listen. Each member’s own musical vision makes this record an improvement in every way. With seven songs, it is over before you know what hit you and leaves you wanting more and more.

Combining influences from different bands such as R.E.M., The National, Ride, and Echo and the Bunnymen, Citified clearly has a love for the melancholy and the autumnal. The opening line of the first song, entitled “Weddings,” gets to the point quickly: “Open bar/Means I’m safe.” Citified is probably not the first band to suggest that the only good thing about weddings is the free booze to warm your loneliness as a pensive indie rock musician, but the honesty rings true and continues throughout the record.

The high-end melodic guitar lines present over Jackson’s voice are drenched in reverb and delay pedals, making the listener feel as if they are floating in a sea of fantastic guitar tone. The swirling guitar lines of the song “Read Like A Number” call to mind the sound of another British band, Radiohead. The reflective melancholy present in each song seems to give voice to small town-anxiety, the feelings that come from living in a place where everybody seems to know everybody, and the same few people occupy the same bars night after night. If anything, this record comes off as a soundtrack to Greensboro life in the cold winter months.

Most of the songs clock in under the four-minute mark, and with only seven songs, each ends somewhat abruptly. The restraint and structure present in each song shows a sense of discipline lacking in many bands today. The band’s strength comes from their songwriting, and their ability to transpose that strength into something real and powerful, which on a full-band scale is truly awe-inspiring. They don’t overdo it and they know exactly when to quit, leaving you wanting more. They fill their songs with tasteful, beautiful parts without being too busy, saving plenty of room for the listeners’ minds to include their own nostalgia and memories.

This is certainly a perfect record for the end of winter, a reflective album that may help you gain enough perspective to move forward into the spring. It’s an ideal album that rewards attentive listening, doesn’t reveal itself too quickly, grows on you with time, and turns into a record you might love for years to come. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself listening to this again and again. Citified are playing several shows around North Carolina in the coming months, so be sure to catch them whenever you can.

http://www.myspace.com/citified.