Review Summary: Dallas Green is back with another well thought out, carefully crafted album. While the tracks could be considered dull and slow, the passion and sheer honesty of each track makes The Hurry and The Harm something to be recognized and cherished.
There is simply no way to deny that Dallas Green can write some incredible songs. The way he layers pieces together and his discreet use of rhythm vs. melody can be appreciated by anybody, whether or not they understand exactly what he’s doing musically. That’s probably my favorite thing about City and Colour. The songs created are loved and appreciated by such a variety of people, and it’s something I’ve found to be very unique and hard to come by recently.
The Hurry and The Harm opens up with the title track. I couldn’t like this track anymore than I do. First of all, the opening lyrics themselves describe something very universal but not widely understood. He sings, “Everyone, wants everything / No matter the cost, we're longing to live in a dream / But we can't let go to all that we think we know / This great escape, until we give up the ghost”. These words strike pretty incredibly just by reading them, but the soulful way they are sung just make them so much more real. The track doesn’t get very exciting from beginning to end, but it really could not matter any less. This is a beautiful opening for the album, and I wouldn’t change a thing about it.
That seems to be how a lot of the best songs are crafted for anybody. The songwriter figures out what the song is about, what the timbre or feel of it should be, and what they need to do to make that happen. Where a lot of musicians screw up, in my opinion, is when they get to the point where they feel like they need to make it something it’s not. “It just needs that one moment that everyone can agree is their favorite moment!” But would it still be music if it were constructed in a way that tries to force the listener into favoring a certain part or thinking a certain thing? Music has always been about expression, and it seems that artists have forgotten that part of that responsibility belongs to the listener. With that said, however, I believe that City and Colour has not forgotten about the listener. It seems to me that the listener was taken into account during the creation of
The Hurry and The Harm, and it could definitely pay off for fans both old and new.
Although, while it’s a great thing to not try and create to much within a single track, there is certainly a point where it can get too repetitive. This does happen on
The Hurry and The Harm in a few different ways. Some tracks sound similar to one another, and some melodies are just way too alike. Certain interval/rhythm patterns are used quite frequently, and it can create unintentional dull moments or cause the listener to check out after a while. But this by no means diminishes the record in a great fashion. Again, it’s all about knowing when to continue adding layers and when enough have been used. The feel to each song seems to remain the same, and that will put the listener in some type of mood throughout the entire album. There isn’t a single song on the album that drastically changes the theme or mood, yet along the same lines as before, the songs don’t force a specific mood. Even on “The Lonely Life” where the drums are heavier and the tempo is a tad quicker, the timbre has remained the same since the beginning.
Something that amazes me by
The Hurry and The Harm is that even though there have been changes in instrumentation since earlier albums, and other aspects are certainly quite different comparatively, it’s still a wonderful album. I would expect a good majority of older City and Colour fans to immediately jump into disappointment by some of these tracks or even the whole album. But what those fans seem to not think about is that an album is an album for a reason, and Dallas does an excellent job at proving this. If every album that he released had the same exact sound, vibe and lyrical style, then would there be anything special and unique about new releases? Wouldn’t things become predictable? A great artist can create songs that a listener can say “oh this sounds like it’s probably from this album” if heard without any information given. Or perhaps a better example would be that if there was an unreleased track, and the artist released it without saying what recording sessions it came from, the listener could pinpoint exactly what album the track was intended to be included on.
Some of these songs are simply incredible and make you forget about everything except for what your ears are currently being exposed to at that very moment. The best example of this is the sweet and honest “Take Care”. The main focus, musically, is Dallas’ voice and his guitar. But we are also treated to careful background harmonies and drones, the most beautiful among these being the strings. It doesn’t overpower the song and it actually compliments it perfectly. The lyrics are the type that are simple yet say a lot. Like the title track, the opening lyrics are my favorite; “Take better care / Of yourself, my friend / For, you never know / When it will all / Come to an end / Cause only time will tell / When death shall ring his bell / So take better care / Of yourself, my friend.” This reiterates my point of the album being so respectful of the listener. The song could literally be talking to them. I just find it so brilliantly thought out, yet so simple. Many artists have certainly written similar lyrics, but I find these to speak so much more clearly.
The Hurry and The Harm requires patience to listen to, and it certainly pays off. For those of you who are older fans of City and Colour, please do not immediately announce your disappointment. Give it time, let it soak in. I promise you it’s worth it. For those who have never heard anything by Dallas before, I believe this album will at the very least spark an interest in his music for you. There is so much to be heard within these 12 songs, and I can’t imagine anybody not enjoying its simple yet complex demeanor.
Standout Tracks:
The Hurry and The Harm
Harder Than Stone
The Lonely Life
Paradise
Take Care
The Golden State
Death’s Song
4/5
