CITY AND COLOUR – LITTLE HELL

Alexisonfire’s brooding, tattooed front man has another side to him – it’s lovely. Working under the moniker City And Colour, this is Dallas Green’s third full solo album since his first demos for the side project were released in 2004. As usual the songs are based around Green’s acoustic song writing, but this release sees the Canadian building some of them up with a full band. The result is still a far cry from the kind of volume that Alexisonfire deal in, and thankfully so. Fragile Bird hints at some inspiration from New York’s Grizzly Bear; that warm and familiar crunch in the guitar and bass production imbues the sexy rock ballad with the same tension and frustration that underpins Green’s battles with his wife’s recurring night terrors: “all that I can do is hope she makes it through the night”. The smoky swing of Northern Wind is very Ray la Montagne, but Green still does it on his own terms. The slight bluesy push in his voice and the passionate physicality of his acoustic guitar playing in the quieter moments of Little Hell show that Green has the sincerity and imagination to transcend the Spartan instrumentation that can corner singer-songwriters. A beautiful, heartfelt record.

***1/2