Citay: Little Kingdom

Folk collectives ain't exactly rocket science: With a bare minimum of marijuana and musicality, almost anyone can throw together a roomful of friends, three chords, a little noodling, and some hiccupped mysticism. What sets the good collectives apart from the bad is bona fide, earthy weirdness—which is why Citay's debut Little Kingdom largely succeeds. Ezra Feinberg concocted the project on a small scale, but enlisting master guitarist Tim Green of The Fucking Champs is hardly the best way to keep a lid on things. Smeared with Brian May-worthy leads and a mythic sense of self, Little Kingdom wallows in shimmery bliss. The disc's closer, "Moonburn," is pure show-off, a Mike Oldfield-meets-Pentangle instrumental that exudes precocious hubris. But Citay pull it off with charm and subtlety—and no shortage of bong-basted wonder.