Scott Miller and the Commonwealth

Citation is a little glossier than Miller's previous albums, 2001’s Thus Always to Tyrants and 2003’s Upside/Downside. But despite its shiny veneer and the pretty-boy mug shots of Miller plastering the liner notes, the disc stays true to what Miller’s always been about—alternately fiery and affecting songs that go down ever so easy. The songwriting’s candid and, thanks in no small part to his rowdy band the Commonwealth, the instrumentals on Citation are at once hotheaded and clean.