City and Colour – Fragile Bird
City and Colour is the recording moniker of Dallas Green (a city and a color), who is also the guitarist and vocalist for the post-hardcore band Alexisonfire. But over the past few years, Green has made a name for himself in his strong song-writing skills and quiet acoustic folk songs .
City and Colour’s third studio album, Little Hell, was released on June 7, and will both please City and Colour’s old fans and garner new ones. While City and Colour is known for melodic folk, this album is considerably more piano/keyboard driven. Green himself described the album as much more upbeat than previous City and Colour albums, and that is definitely the case here.
However, though the album is musically upbeat, lyrically it is still rather melancholic. Green has in the past swapped some of his songs between Alexisonfire and City and Colour. So with that in mind, it’s no surprise that the album though melodically light and upbeat, is more downtrodden. On O’ Sister Green sings, “I know it’s tearing you apart, but it’s a storm you can weather.” Overall the entire album carries a recurring theme of making it through. Each song is some sort of little hell, but Green sings each song with emotion and soul. But where there is loss there is beauty too. On the album opener We Found Each Other In the Dark Green sings a gorgeous ode to love found in the darkness.
But either way, there’s space here for listeners who can relate to the depth and darkness, and space for those who want to tune out the lyrics and just listen to the melodically beautiful album. This is definitely one of the my favorite discoveries of the year.