City And Colour - Little Hell

City And Colour’s Dallas Green confesses he feels like a ‘jack of all trades who’s a master of none’ in the song ‘The Grand Optimist’, but we beg to differ. With his new full-length ‘Little Hell’ he’s has managed to maintain the integrity and intimacy of previous albums while at the same time pushing his music into new and unfallowed territory.

‘Little Hell’ isn’t the album City And Colour fans may have expected. ‘Northern Wind’ and ‘Silver And Gold’ still contain his trademark acoustic starkness; however, on songs such as the single ‘Fragile Bird’, you can hear just how far Green has progressed since ‘Sometimes’, creating a full on intense, blues tinged rock n’ roll track - just one of the many on this album.

Some bemoan the apparent sorrow of City And Colour songs, but here he’s decisively hopeful. Green is honest with his listeners when he asks ‘Will we get out of this little hell?’ He answers himself, and our own questions, when he sings that this is ‘a storm you can weather’ in ‘O’ Sister’. It’s an intensely personal album, providing snapshots of the relationships in Greens’ life.

‘Little Hell’ is rougher and more melodically abrasive than anything Green has produced in the past. The likes of ‘Hope for Now’ demonstrate not only this, but his new found confidence in his own vocal range, which has never been fully utilised until now. Those who want ‘Sometimes’ part 2 will be disappointed, as it is clear musically Green has moved on from that era. Those who have already converted to the City And Colour way will love this album, if they accept that City And Colour is no longer just a guy making acoustic tracks in his basement.