If I Should Go Before You

Artist: City And Colour

Label: Dine Alone Music
Release Date: October 9, 2015

Duration: 11 tracks, 50:52

City And Colour is Dallas Green and Dallas Green is City And Colour. Green, a Canadian musician, was originally a member of the band Alexisonfire, going solo he has a number of recordings to his credit and recently has collaborated with Alecia Moore (Pink) to form the group You & Me. If I Should Go Before You marks the fifth studio album for City And Colour. Each of Green’s offerings in City And Colour has shown growth in the alt-folk genre in both writing and musicianship.

Deep, mainly dark and sensitive the music sets a solemn tone of love, relationships and humanity. This LP has a tighter overall sound with solid musicianship due in large part to Green’s touring band joining him in the studio rather than the revolving guests as he has used in the past. Generally the pace is slower and tighter than previous efforts with lyrics concise and meaningful.

Dark, long and with a haunting sound, Green’s distinctive vocals tell of lost love in “Woman”. “Northern Blues” fades in with a constant rhythmic beat. Changes to vocal range throughout the refrain bring this song to life. The pace picks up with a dream-like verve resonating throughout in “Killing Time” asking the timeless question of why we here and telling of time lost.

Right now it feels like killing time

I'm running from the shadow of my former shadow's life

Sometimes I wonder if I was ever really there?

Right now it feels like killing time

The album’s namesake, “If I Should Go Before You”, is a slow, mournful ballad of  loss. The heartfelt “Lover Come Back” is perhaps the most harmonious of the lighter songs. Throughout, the chorus underlines the message of this song’s story of want and remorse.

I am warm enough yet I still shiver

I am fed but still I starve

You know me I am the great misgiver

Always waiting on the clouds to part

I sing lover come back, lover come back to me

Won't you ever come back, ever come back to me

How could I have been so foolish to let you leave

So lover come back, lover come back to me

The album’s range is found in “Map Of The World” with its percussion and raucous guitar and “Blood”, with soft acoustic guitar, backing music distant and brooding. “Blood” is the perfect platform for the eloquent tenor of Green’s vocals, both delicate and absorbing.

While the musicianship is tight and the lyrics solid the energy of his previous release, The Hurry And The Harm, is not found here. Occasionally shining brightly, If I Should Go Before You sparks of Green’s best writing with a solid backing foundation of music, perhaps his best recording if not the crowd pleaser of past efforts.

http://cityandcolour.com

https://www.facebook.com/cityandcolour/

Scott S Mertens

3.5 tocks