Running the gamut of all things distorted and infectious, Brooklyn-based rockers Citris released a hidden gem of a rock record last year with Panic in Hampton Bays. The intersection between Angelina Torreano’s (lead vox, guitar) stellar songwriting and vision and Chris Krasnow’s (various) instrumental painting, the quartet rounded out by Eva Lawitts (bass) and Zane West (drums) recently completed a full U.S. tour.
Now, Just in time for Valentine’s Day, we have a soul-wrenching new tune from Citris with a sound to match the heavy source material. Torreano explains the track better than anyone possibly could below.
Listen to “Driving Me Crazy” and download your copy of it via New Professor Music here.
“‘Driving me Crazy’ is about the attack on your ego and self-esteem after experiencing rejection from a partner. It’s also about having a definitive ending but still feeling unresolved. It’s a very classic theme of the death of romance and how unsettling it can be and how there are so many questions left unanswered.
I had an experience with a dude who hit on me during a show upstate and he wrote me this really sweet ‘Love’ poem after seeing our show. We eventually dated, for a month or so and I kept receiving love poems from him that at first, really freaked me out. I eventually grew to really like him but then of course once I started liking him, he freaked out.
Long story short, things ended because of how emotionally overwhelming everything was becoming. But when you’re constantly writing poetry to your ‘lover’ aren’t you kind of begging for that kind of intensity in reciprocity?
So in an effort to release hurt feelings, I smoked some weed and wrote ‘Driving Me Crazy.’ Marijuana is a really great asset to breakups as well.
I think it’s important to me because the whole experience was really upsetting. Even though it was short, it reminded me of how, even though a lot of the time I feel I have this hard exterior, I am actually quite vulnerable. And ultimately, It’s a relief. So yeah, like I said, I was hurt and stoned and in my living room at 1 or 2 am messing around with some major 7 chords and DMC was born. I remember my roommate imitating the chorus line back to me from his room. I felt like that was a good sign.”
