{"id":46947,"date":"2014-11-16T08:34:52","date_gmt":"2014-11-16T13:34:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=46947"},"modified":"2014-11-16T08:45:20","modified_gmt":"2014-11-16T13:45:20","slug":"the-andrzej-citowicz-experience-jack-of-hearts-ep-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2014\/the-andrzej-citowicz-experience-jack-of-hearts-ep-review\/","title":{"rendered":"The Andrzej Citowicz Experience | Jack Of Hearts<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Alexandra Mrozowska<\/span>
\n– Senior Columnist —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"TheAfter releasing a string of instrumental solo recordings, a Cairo-based Polish guitarist Andrzej Citowicz returns with a new EP. This time, however, he abandons the convention his listeners were familiar with in favor of the co-operation with a bunch of like-minded musicians who went on forming The Andrzej Citowicz Experience together with Citowicz. The first to join forces with him was Dirk Arnicke, a German multi-instrumentalist and producer. This international project became a four-piece when Oliver Monsieur, a German singer\/songwriter, and a young bassist Patryk Szymanski (from Citowicz\u2019s homeland Poland) joined them. The combined effort of the four musicians resulted in the first EP released under the moniker of The Andrzej Citowicz Experience. The mini-album Jack Of Hearts<\/em> is going to see the light of day in late November via Ancient Dreamland Productions.<\/p>\n

You may be already pretty familiar with the first track on the EP. \u201cThe One\u201d was chosen as a promo song for the new material, widely circulated on the band-related social media pages. It\u2019s a melodic mid-tempo with a chorus that\u2019s sugary but not banal, while Citowicz\u2019s clear guitar tone bearing a distinct resemblance to the sound produced by Def Leppard\u2019s late six string hero Steve Clark. However, the track itself is not much Leppard-esque in style, gravitating more towards the early recordings of Giant or Mitch Malloy. This excellent AOR piece is followed by another one that continues more or less in the same manner, yet with a bit heavier sound and dynamics \u2013 \u201cHoldin\u2019 The Key.\u201d Catchy to the utmost, embroidered with an excellent chorus and a nifty solo, the track number two makes a worthy counterpart to the highlights released under the banner of Frontiers Records or AOR Heaven.<\/p>\n

\u201cFisher Of Men\u201d is a very spiritual, emotionally-laden ballad-esque piece with Oliver Monsieur\u2019s raspy vocals sounding not too distant from Bangalore Choir\u2019s David Reece. A solo part is short but expressive, an evident throwback to the tradition of guitar playing that favors the melody and substance rather than the equilibristic form \u2013 as of the aforementioned Clark or Bon Jovi\u2019s Richie Sambora. \u201cComin\u2019 Home\u201d gravitates melodic rock, or \u201cpomp rock\u201d as it\u2019s infamously called, with a generous dose of the \u201880s-infused synthesizers versus feisty but melodic guitar sound. A final track on the EP is \u201cThe One\u201d in its stripped-down, acoustic version that adds much to the track\u2019s authenticity.<\/p>\n

Jack Of Hearts<\/em> is a very promising material altogether. While many a reviewer pointed out to the fact Citowicz\u2019s previous albums would reach a whole new level if recorded with an appropriate singer, the new EP puts an end to this kind of shortcoming. Oliver Monsieur\u2019s raspy, expressive voice, along with his songwriting talent and high-level performance, is thus not only much anticipated, but also valuable addition to the project. Another asset to it is a well-balanced performance of the rhythm section \u2013 the young, but talented Patryk Szymanski on bass guitar together with Dirk Arnicke on drums (the latter being also responsible for the keyboard sound and the clean-cut production of the entire material). And talking about production \u2013 perhaps the biggest risk taken here was the physical distance between the band members being considerable (to put it mildly). Such a situation, if handled inappropriately, could have resulted in the material being largely incoherent. On Jack Of Hearts<\/em>, however, there\u2019s a space for every sound and for every musician involved in the project, with the risk of effacing one another being fortunately avoided. Let\u2019s thus hope it\u2019s just the first slice of recording material from the Egypt-Germany-Poland-based quartet, while also looking forward to the next interesting releases under the moniker of The Andrzej Citowicz Experience. Jack Of Hearts<\/em>, the first EP of theirs, is a well-crafted, polished, catchy dose of melodic rock\/AOR enriched with an acoustic twist and vintage \u201880s-infused arrangements. Highly recommended.<\/p>\n

Genre: Melodic Hard Rock<\/p>\n

Band:
\nAndrzej Citowicz \u2013 guitars
\nOliver Monsieur \u2013 vocals
\nPatryk Szyma\u0144ski \u2013 bass guitar, acoustic guitar
\nDirk Arnicke \u2013 drums, keyboards
\nTamas Angyan \u2013 background vocals<\/p>\n

Track List:
\n1.\tThe One
\n2.\tHoldin’ The Key
\n3.\tFisher Of Men
\n4.\tComin’ Home
\n5.\tThe One (acoustic)<\/p>\n

Label: Ancient Dreamland Productions<\/p>\n

Website: www.tace-music.com<\/a> – https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/andrzejcitowicz<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven rating: 9\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Alexandra Mrozowska – Senior Columnist — After releasing a string of instrumental solo recordings, a Cairo-based Polish guitarist Andrzej Citowicz returns with a new EP. This time, however, he abandons the convention his listeners […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":46950,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10848],"tags":[10287,8289,10286,2847,10285],"class_list":{"0":"post-46947","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2014","8":"tag-ancient-dreamland-productions","9":"tag-ep-review","10":"tag-jack-of-hearts","11":"tag-melodic-hard-rock","12":"tag-the-andrzej-citowicz-experience"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46947"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46947\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}