Review Summary: Inconsistent production values, along with some terrible musical choices, hamper an album brimming with potential.
This is probably going to offend some people, but Jack Johnson can go to hell. I don’t really understand the huge obsession over his particular brand of feel-good acoustic rock. When I look for good acoustic rock, I try to go for a bit more depth and personality; music that conveys emotions, and would make you want to fall asleep to. Jack Johnson has an odd habit of just putting me to sleep.
City and Colour, however, give me more faith. Dallas Green, perhaps better known for his antics in post-hardcore group
Alexisonfire, charmed me (and many others in the process) with his 2005 release,
Sometimes. The album was a touchingly soulful collection of personal musings wrapped in smooth-as-silk jazz guitar lines, and it worked.
Bring Me Your Love is a fairly large departure from Sometimes in many clear areas. It’s also a fairly large disappointment. Inconsistent production values, along with some terrible musical choices, hamper an album brimming with potential.
One of the most noticeable changes is the shift from smooth jazz guitar to acoustic guitar. Sounds promising, right? Unfortunately, the acoustic guitar doesn’t at all compliment Green’s strengths. All parts of
Sometimes, from the guitar to Dallas’ voice, flourished in the higher registers. On the acoustic, Green seems content to stay fairly low on the guitar, and it hurts the overall quality of the tracks. Lower guitar work also gives Green an excuse to sleepwalk his way vocally through several tracks, which he does without hesitation. "Confessions" (which was a highlight of the Live album released in 2007) decides to go about three keys too low for its own good, and the vocals feel sleepy in all the wrong ways. Even the attempt at a high note in the song’s finale falls drastically short.
Another of the album’s major transgressions is its attempts to work in additional musicians to City and Colour’s sound. Sometimes worked because it was as stripped down as possible; just a man and his guitar. Bring Me Your Love brings in a banjo, a bass, a violin, drums, a marimba, an organ, and ever, unfortunately, a harmonica. Yes a harmonica, on two separate tracks, and it only barely fits the mood of "Body In A Box", a sort of jangly funeral march, and ruins "Against The Grain", another of the album's minimalistic ballads. When it really clashes is when Green tries to go halfway, mixing the slow mood of his ballads with hazy rock instruments.
Not that the multi-instrumental approach always fails. "Sleeping Sickness" works because it knows it can’t have it both ways, and sticks entirely to being a more rock-oriented acoustic jam, including hand claps drums, and even a short electric guitar solo. Gord Downie (of Tragically Hip) provides interesting vocals as well, though even they seem slightly out of place. "Waiting" is at least moderately catchy, and its up-tempo nature actually works very well with the drums. It makes sense that "Waiting" is the lead single, because it’s one of the few songs that’s actually consistently interesting. Finally, "The Girl" is indeed excellent because as soon as it starts to drag, it quickly jumps into a quick, multi vocalist rocker. For once, Dallas actually sounds interested to sing one of his songs.
There’s also the problem that most of the album’s songs drag well after they’ve run out of new things to say. That’s nothing new.
Sometimes suffered from the same problems. What is new is how Green manages to find ways to ruin his best songs. I mentioned the harmonica already, right? "Sensible Heart" is notable as well, because it’s a stirring acoustic ballad with great vocal work. Unfortunately, someone thought it would be a good idea to have alternating snare shots throughout the song, which ruins its personal feel. Indeed, the album is rife with poor musical choices on Green’s part, which is a real shame, because he’s a great musician, and a great vocalist to boot.
The production values don’t do Green any favors either. For some reason, certain songs sound fantastic, while others feel lazily thrown together. "Forgive Me", another highlight of last year’s Live album, feels like it was recorded in a school gymnasium, with Green on one end and the microphone on the other. The album actually sounds like it’s trying to further distance you from Green throughout its entire run time. Which is really my biggest complaint of them all. On
Bring Me Your Love, Dallas Green has lost touch with what made
City and Colour so excellent in the first place: Dallas Green.
