Citrus
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Citrus

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This band has not uploaded any videos

Music

The best kept secret in music

Press


"Citrus is an obvious choice for this summers upcoming festivals. Ripe and ready to pluck, fresh fruit from the sunny coast of the Pacific ocean with roots in Danish soil."

If the dream is strong enough, one must pursue it. Even if that means traveling half way around the world and spending every single dime doing it. That’s exactly what the Danes Mikkel Heimburger (bass) and Thomas Hjorth (guitar) did along with Swedish singer Jesper Andreasson and French drummer Franck Fiser.

Together, these four gentlemen started the band Citrus in Los Angeles. Citrus has fought for more than 4 years to establish themselves in the demanding US record industry. Citrus released their debut album in the year 2000, which only sparked some local interest in Los Angeles. Now with their recently released second album ’io’ they are showing a very different impact in the US, where the band has received massive interest and, for example, have been chosen to perform at this years Sundance Film Festival.

Citrus is still an unknown act here in Denmark, which is very unfortunate since the band’s riveting rock, influenced by both British melancholics such as Coldplay, Radiohead and Starsailor as well as U2 and American grunge, is very refreshing and intrigues the listener with songs like ”Starved For Applause” and ”Premature”. Amazing vocal performances by the band’s big asset, Jesper Andreasson, with both a big and sensitive voice. Ripe and ready to pluck, fresh fruit from the sunny coast of the Pacific ocean with roots in Danish soil.
- Politiken (Denmark's Biggest Newspaper)


"Citrus charts a new direction in rock with a new sound for the new millennium"

Citrus charts a new direction in rock with a new sound for the new millennium. Though based in Los Angeles, the band is not from the U.S.A., instead the members hail from Sweden, Denmark and France. That may explain their unique sonic techniques that have organ sounds droning from guitars and feedback mayhem bursting into song. This unusual cacophony effortlessly gels with their modern rock material, but yet is reminiscent of Pink Floyd’s grandiosity, Led Zeppelin’s expansiveness and Sonic Youth’s impulsive innovation. A strange and complex combination, to be sure, but this group pulls it off and delivers the goods. Hjorth leads the way with effect-laden trickery, igniting the music and setting each song’s ambiance. Heimburger and Fiser then push the bottom on the edge with a densely constructed rhythm section and a precision that is incredible. Jesper’s voice, a form of pure emotion, is so strong, his vocal chords must be close to snapping. Up and coming acts could take a lesson from Citrus who simply played an acoustic set after their bass drum ruptured. As they played, joked and kept their set alive, Fiser jerry-rigged his kit with the help from another act. Then, as if nothing had happened, this band closed their performance with an over-the-top display of showmanship that spilled every ounce of energy onto the stage. Named a ‘band to keep an eye on’ by Album Network, Citrus is both trippy and inventive. Taking sonic chances, this act has a sound that is so big it rattles the rafters. Their songs are already played on college stations and a couple can be heard on MTV’s ‘The Real World’, but the true measure of this band is a live show that takes no prisoners. - Music Connection


"Rock Zone (Danish Magazine)"

When I first received this album I wasn’t all that excited. This is not really my kind of music and I was expecting yet another Saybia clone among the many others.

The first track “Starved for Applause” was a huge surprise to me. The genre is mellow rock, no doubt about that, but not mellow rock like Saybia and their clones as we know them here in Denmark. Citrus’s music is “huge,” it’s hard to explain, but it takes you to a very special euphoric state of mind. I don’t feel like going crazy, as I normally do, nor do I feel like taking a nap as I do with most mellow rock out there, it just makes me wanna lie down and listen, not talking and barely breathing, just listening. That’s the vibe I get from “io.” It feels like being a music video, you can feel everything touching your body, you can hear every single vocal line and the music just takes you by storm. Is it only me who gets this vibe from “Io”? I’m not sure, but judging by Citrus’s success in their hometown Los Angeles, I’m not the only one.

The music is hard to put to a label on, sometimes it reminds me of Blur, sometimes Coldplay, but then again not really. Their style is very unique and it will go straight to the heart of many people. Citrus themselves are like their music, a somewhat unusual mixture: they all live in Los Angeles now, but were born in Europe (Denmark, Sweden and France). If that’s what makes Citrus such a unique band is hard to say, but unique is in fact what they are. I’m sure I could say a lot more about this masterpiece of an album but I simply can’t find the words other than that I was swept away by a musical genre that I normally don’t listen to.
- Masterpiece of an Album - "io"


"CITRUS Dec. 2 @ Karma Coffeehouse"

Los Angeles has been mighty frosty recently, and on this night in particular there was no better place to be than snuggled into a warm coffeehouse in Hollywood with the band Citrus onstage, testing out their new residency.

All the seats in the house were taken and somehow you got a sense that most of the patron’s weren’t there just for coffe, tea and cookies. They also weren’t merely seeking refuge from the cold. The counter was staffed by a guy who sang along to most of the set while pouring drinks, and somehow managed to actively promote Citrus CD sales in between songs.

Intently focused but not distant, band members Jesper Andreasson, Thomas Hjorth, Mikkel Heimburger and Jesper Norskov Kristensen took the stage dressed mostly in black and began to stylishly construct an hour-long set featuring a number of captivating new songs in addition to favorites from their 2004 release, io. Although they were plagued by an early sound glitch that forced the band to abort and then valiantly retry their second song, Citrus never let on that its rhythm had been broken.

The stunning “Forgive Us Now,” a new song that turns on a quick stop/start vocal trick, is the most aptly themed song I’ve heard in months. Comparisons generally make for little more than lazy journalism, but bear with me: Citrus is Radiohead’s darkly poetic, more restrained cousin, not nearly as headache-inducing as Muse, and blessed with the passion and ecstatic heights of Jeff Buckley.

Although the relatively acoustic environment highlighted the quality of their songwriting and accentuated the many lovely, lilting layers of sound, it left you wondering, what Citrus might be like fully plugged in, dressed up and rocked out. There were hints of greatness in their performance at Karma Coffeehouse on this evening, true flashes of incandescence and the sense that something new, interesting and relevant was happening right before your eyes.

Near the end of the set when Andreasson hypnotically intoned, “I’m in love with your potential,” you would have been hard pressed to find a person in the audience who didn’t echo the sentiment.

-Anne Sowers
- Campus Circle


Discography

Largo Divine (full-length): 2000
The Boy EP: 2001
io (full-length): 2004

Photos

Feeling a bit camera shy

Bio

Coming off their sold-out performance at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival and winning the “Best International Band” award at the 2004 Orange County Music Award, Citrus is making its mark on both sides of the Atlantic. Their new album ‘io’ has been dubbed “a masterpiece of an album” and is receiving excellent reviews from Denmark to here. Denmark? Yes, Denmark.

Citrus formed in Los Angeles in January 2000 (though none of the members were born in the U.S.) but the band is based in Copenhagen, Denmark. Jesper Andreasson (lead vocals/guitar) was born and raised in Sweden. Thomas Hjorth (lead guitar), Mikkel Heimbürger (bass) and Jesper Kristensen (drums) are all from Denmark. The band released their debut CD “Largo Divine” in early August 2000. The album was #19 on CMJ’s Most Added in the Country chart during the week of its release and two of its singles charted for months on 30+ stations all across the country. Two U.S. tours followed to support the album.

Citrus can be heard on Spinner.com & AOL Radio’s “Top Alternative”, “Alternative Mix” and “All Rock” stations as well as on MTV’s “Real World”, “Road Rules” and “Making the Band” series.