by Oliver St John

     Citizens Here And Abroad are Adrienne Robillard, [vocals, guitar], Chris Groves [vocals, bass], Dan Lowrie [guitar] and Chris Wetherell [drums].

     The second record of the band's career, Waving, Not Drowning is very much a mix for the downside. The songs deal with infidelity, panic disorder, sexual relations, prevarication, prescription drug abuse, and compulsive gambling.

     While much of the material does in fact come from the band's own life experiences, the album appears, as a whole, to be less about the topics mentioned above as it is about decisions, deliberations and taking chances.

     It's certainly not all doom and gloom, though - a common theme of these songs is the hope of a light at the end of the tunnel and the feeling of making it through the harder times.

     In between releases Citizens Here And Abroad have performed with the Arcade Fire, British Sea Power, The Decemberists, Rilo Kiley, Rogue Wave and Rainer Maria, among others, and had their videos played on MTV.com, MTV2, Fuse and MTV Europe.

     Overall: 7/10