Cytrus Talks Duality, Improvisation and the Evolution of Their Sound

Photo: Courtesy of Cytrus

With a sound that moves between psychedelic rock, funk, improvisation and tightly arranged composition, Cytrus has built its identity around exploration. The eight-piece band takes that idea further on Duality, an album that digs deeper into the heavier and more psychedelic side of its sound while leaving plenty of room for the spontaneity that has become central to its live shows. Ahead of Cytrus’ September 13 appearance at Cervantes’ Other Side in Denver, Candice Dollar spoke with the band about Duality, the evolution of their creative process, learning to trust one another onstage and why the audience remains an essential part of the experience.

Grateful Web: Duality feels like a natural title for a band that has always existed between contrasts, structure and improvisation, individuality and collaboration, composition and exploration. What tensions or contradictions shaped this chapter of Cytrus?

Cytrus: Duality feels like a necessary commentary for a band that is beginning to settle into their processes and identity. Although Duality ventures deeper into a social and introspective narrative, it was important to convey to our fans, “Hey, this is a psych rock album. This is one aspect of a genre that is part of the band’s creative fabric that we want to explore in greater depth.” Contrast and exploration is something we’ve always held close as we create. The next (third) album will be a deeper dive into a different side of our sound, thus maintaining our commitment to exploring those contrasts.

GW: Since Concentrate, what has changed about the way Cytrus writes, creates, or understands itself as a band?

Cytrus: I’d say it’s less about what has changed and more about what has worked in the past and how we’ve approached refining our process. One thing we’ve learned is that we strive for a level of attention to detail that is hard to achieve under the pressure of a paid studio environment. We started producing in our bedrooms and home studios in high school, so we’ve learned that keeping that spirit is really intuitive and important for the final result.

Again, it goes back to exploration. Not having a time limit or “session blocks” at studios allows us the creative freedom to explore. Maybe we spend hours refining a specific synth tone. Maybe we find elements to layer in for a more complex sound, or to remove to create more space in the music. Handling production in our home studio allows us the freedom to ensure that our creative process drives the record and final product, not the time limit.

GW: Eight people is a lot of creative energy in one room. After years of making music together, what have you learned about when to lead, when to listen, and when to let an idea transform into something bigger than any one person?

Cytrus: Having appreciation and admiration for your bandmates’ talents and creative decisions fosters an environment that naturally lends itself to a revolving door of leading vs. following. Especially with improvisation playing such a prominent role in what we do, it’s a constant team-building exercise that fosters musical trust in each other.

GW: Cytrus has always embraced a wide range of influences, but Duality feels less like combining genres and more like creating its own language. Has your relationship with genre changed over time?

Cytrus: I’d say so! Duality felt like a chance to not necessarily reinvent “our” sound or genre, but rather delve deeper into a specific realm that we identified with. Psychedelic rock has always been a part of the fabric of our sound, especially growing up in Seattle. There’s a lot of grunge influence in this album, as well as early Black Sabbath and definitely Pink Floyd. There are certainly psych rock elements to be heard on Concentrate as well, but Duality placed a microscope on those elements to explore them deeper.

GW: Your music balances highly arranged moments with the unpredictability of a live band. What have you learned about leaving room for discovery?

Cytrus: Something we’ve learned about discovery is leaving ourselves open to “the moment” and “the now.” We feel that most discovery happens in the present moment, which we love to lean into through improvisation at a live show. Not only is the band discovering in these moments, but so is the audience, and that creates a feedback loop of energy. It’s all about discovering something that will only take place during that jam, at that show, in that venue, with those people, in that moment.

GW: A lot of bands talk about chemistry, but chemistry is something that develops over time. What can Cytrus do now that would have been impossible when you first started?

Cytrus: Something that Cytrus does now that we certainly couldn’t do when we first got started is playing shows without setlists. We love to start a show with a jam, read the audience, and call out songs or take the jams places based on what the audience is feeling. It’s kind of like how a DJ reads the room. It’s something we’ve wanted to do for quite some time, but we needed to build our chemistry before it could become possible.

GW: When a song moves from the studio into a live setting, what are you hoping remains intact — and what are you hoping changes?

Cytrus: We hope the essence of a record remains intact as it pertains to the live show. Some songs from Duality have 250 tracks, full orchestral and horn arrangements, small delay throws and production “ear candy,” as we call it. To recreate a recorded song in its entirety in a live scenario just isn’t feasible at times. But what is feasible is serving the song with the tools we do have.

Is the spirit of the song raw and grimy? Is it tender and polished? What sound designs and dynamics can we pursue using our musical toolbox to achieve that live? The spirit of the song must remain, but the tools and devices we use to get to that end goal might have to change. And to us, that’s part of the thrill!

GW: Cytrus seems interested not just in creating music, but creating an experience. What role does the audience play in completing that experience?

Cytrus: There’s a wonderful human in Portland, Oregon, who goes by “Karen - The Dancing Lady.” She once said, “Life is about breaking into a thousand pieces over and over again, only to have others pick up little pieces of yourself and return them to you when you’re ready.” That message really resonated with us, and speaks to the void that a live band can fill on many levels.

We feel the audience plays their role in the performance from the moment they walk through the venue doors. We understand that the human experience is not linear: it ebbs and flows. Our job, and really our pleasure, is to curate a space in which whatever an audience member gives is received and reflected back. Our hope is maybe they leave a show with a little piece of themselves, the same way that we leave with a little piece of ourselves.

GW: The word “duality” suggests that opposing things can exist together. What dualities have you had to learn to embrace — as musicians, as a band, or as people?

Cytrus: Love this question. If I had to summarize it in simpler terms, it’d be tension & release. The tension of conflicting schedules, the rut of a monotonous job, the realities of today’s socioeconomic and political landscapes. But also the release of acceptance, the comfort of empathy, the togetherness of music.

These same ideas can and should be heard and felt in the music. Again, the human experience is not linear. The emotions exuded or absorbed in music also are not linear. Learning to cope, navigate and embrace the tension so you can appreciate the release is something that we aimed to achieve for ourselves and others throughout this album.

GW: After everything you have built together, what still surprises you about Cytrus?

Cytrus: The constant discovery that what we once perceived to be our limits are no longer. Whether that’s in measurable metrics and analytics or in the music we create, we seem to surprise ourselves whenever we achieve something that felt beyond our reach just a few years ago, or possibly wasn’t even an expectation we had set for ourselves.

There always seems to be a new goal or level to strive for, and to reach those goals and watch the goalpost shift feels like mining for something new and special.