Rich

The fourth studio album from Dallas Green under his musical alias City and Colour, ‘The Hurry and the Harm‘ is an album that was eagerly anticipated by many after what was arguably his best album to date in 2011s ‘Little Hell‘. With the breakup of Alexisonfire, Dallas Green could now concentrate all of his time into City and Colour; no longer a side project, but instead Dallas Green’s primary concern.

Right from the first track of the album, Dallas Green sets out his intentions here as he tells us ‘I’m going back to the start’. ‘The Hurry and the Harm‘ is a studio album that marks out a new beginning of sorts for City and Colour, now that Alexisonfire is no more Dallas Green has stripped things back to basics here, ultimately seeming to have taken a backwards step in the process. Taking things back to basics is not always a bad thing, in fact it can sometimes be a move that takes an artist right back to their very best, with ‘Little Hell‘ it really felt like Dallas Green was making progress, however, and so in this instance it definitely feels like a move that has culled City and Colour’s forward motion.

There are some genuinely great tracks on display on this album, a significant number of them just don’t really seem to offer much here, however, and a lot of the time Green just seems to meander his way through ‘The Hurry and the Harm’ without any real conviction. Many of the tracks are perfectly pleasant and Dallas Green’s falsetto is at all times an absolute joy to listen to, there just seems to be a lack of passion and personality coming through with a lot of these tracks though, and whilst some of the music stands out strongly a lot of the tracks are very quickly forgotten.

‘The Lonely Life‘ is one of the few tracks from this album that really manages to stand out; simple in its composition, yet absolutely massive in its overall impact. It’s instrumentally repetitive, yet its absolute simplicity is perhaps the key to its success. Dallas Green’s voice sounds as velvet as ever here, and his incredible vocal tone combined with the driving nature of the instrumental sound here provides for a really very satisfying overall listening experience.

Whilst ‘The Lonely Life‘ is incredibly infectious, ‘Thirst‘ is perhaps the absolute highlight of the release, powerful from its intro and maintaining momentum throughout the entirety of its three and a half minute duration. The track has an extremely dark sound with lyrical content to match; it’s Dallas Green at his brilliant best and it’s tracks like this that I’d absolutely love to have heard more of from ‘The Hurry and the Harm‘. Heartfelt and poignant, this is the kind of track that you can never get tired of listening to, unfortunately it’s the final moment of absolute quality from ‘The Hurry and the Harm‘, however, with the album then finishing up with five reasonably satisfying but ultimately fairly forgettable offerings.

Lacking the intimacy, power, and passion that made ‘Little Hell’ so special, ‘The Hurry and the Harm‘ is a studio album that just feels a little lacklustre, and whilst it may not have a bad track present it definitely doesn’t feel as vibrant or as meaningful as his last studio release. With ‘Little Hell’ there was great lyrical depth, increased instrumental power, and Green seemed to be taking huge steps forward with his City and Colour project; the momentum seems to have been lost with ‘The Hurry and the Harm’, it’s not a progression but instead a return to roots, and although Green’s vocals sound as impressive as ever here, the tracks themselves do not always feel of a level to match the mastery of his vocal tone.

Rating
[Rating:2.5/5]