Upcoming: Citay at the Silverlake Lounge

Let’s all agree to abolish the word “psychedelic.” At least for the sake of the San Francisco sextet Citay, which has been saddled with that toothless tag in nearly every article ever written about the group (besides, in 2009, LSD may be the only thing harder to get than gainful employment). 

Of course, there’s some validity to the branding -- Ezra Feinberg’s songs boast the panoramic pastoral vibe of prog forebears Robert Fripp and Pink Floyd. Many of the tracks on Citay's excellent 2007 Dead Oceans release “Little Kingdom” are built on unplugged English folk melodies that wouldn’t seem out of place on “Led Zeppelin III.” And in the scope and untied elegance of certain songs, Feinberg’s teenaged Grateful Dead fandom is erumpent.

Yet this is more than nostalgic rehash. Since bailing New York in 2004 for the salt air and pale sun of San Francisco, Feinberg’s music has grown to embody a uniquely Bay Area laissez faire. In its towering guitar solos and peaceful placidity, it dials in to the dialectic between city and sea in sight from the top of every hill. 

Currently in the midst of recording their third album, tentatively slated for release early next year, Feinberg and company are taking a break from the studio for a mini five-city West Coast swing, including a stop at The Silverlake Lounge on Thursday.

What made you decide to leave New York, and how did you go about forming a band in San Francisco?

I’d been living on the East Coast my whole life and had always been curious about the West. I’d done a record with my old band in Brooklyn and Tim Green (Nation of Ulysses). We hit if off, discovered we had similar musical tastes and aesthetics and I knew I wanted to work with him again. His studio is here, so I moved out that summer and I literally moved into the studio, living on the couch and sleeping under the console until I found a place.

I started writing songs on my own and recording them on Garage Band -- demo after demo. After six months of that, I got together with Tim and over the next year we wrote and recorded the first Citay record. I didn’t know what was going to come of it, I was just hoping someone would put it out. When it was finished, a Massachusetts label called Important Records put it out, and I put together a live band. Our first show was in L.A., at ArthurFest in 2006. We love playing in L.A. and have played there a bunch of times. One of my favorite shows ever was a show with Earthless at Spaceland in 2007.

How did the geographical shift influence the way that you made music?

I consider myself a very East Coast personality, but when it comes to making music I have very West Coast tastes. Not to say that I don’t love a lot of music associated with New York -- how can anyone not love the Velvet Underground or Television or any number of great bands from there. But I feel as though I’ve never really made urban-sounding music.

How do you think San Francisco itself affects the sound and compositions?

San Francisco is a city that’s built into its nature, as much as it’s built on top of its nature. Whereas, New York is strictly built on top of nature, so the integration of the urban and pastoral that happens here has become a part of what I do.

Does being constantly labeled a ‘psychedelic band’ get insanely frustrating?

It gets exhausting because I think that the word "psychedelic" has been totally exhausted, it doesn’t mean anything anymore. To me, if you listen to anything loudly or deeply enough it becomes psychedelic. I never set out to write a psychedelic record or be in a psychedelic rock band. I never even thought about it in those terms until people started applying them to my music, or really until people started writing press releases and saying it, and then journalists started applying it. It sounds ridiculous and it might not make any sense, but Citay is my attempt at sounding like a power pop band. I guess it’s sort of like when Thom Yorke says he’s influenced by Elvis Costello. I’m as influenced by Big Star, the Raspberries, and mid-period Beatles as I am by Pink Floyd, acoustic Led Zeppelin or the Byrds.

How’s the new album progressing and how would you say that it’s different from your previous two?

We’re right smack in the middle of it. Its got a different sound, but it’s got a lot of similarities too. It’s definitely Citay, but with louder and bigger drums, crazier guitars. We’re doing a cover of a Galaxie 500 song, we're experimenting with heavier guitars and there’s even going to be a full-on pop song on there. It'll be less acoustic and more rock.

Do you have a title?

Yup, but I'm not going to tell you.

-- Jeff Weiss

Citay at Silverlake Lounge, 2906 Sunset Blvd., on Thursday, 9 p.m. $10 

Photo: Jesse Reiner, left, Warren Huegel, Adria Otte, Ezra Feinberg, Diego Gonzalez, Tahlia Harbour, April Hayley and Julie Napolin. Credit: Alissa Anderson