Let me start with I think Alexis On Fire is annoying Screamo crap. It's no better than the Metal everyone bitched was a bunch of screaming. I'm talking about you Death Metal. As a teen I had a general rule about vocals. I had to be able to understand a minimum of 50% of the lyrics without looking at the liner notes. AC/DC and Pantera were exceptions to the rule. International acts that sing in another language are completely a different story all on their own, because I love Rammstein.
That being said, I discovered City And Colour not knowing that the vocalist was the same one as Alexis On Fire. Wow, was that a bit of a surprise, especially since I really like City And Colour.
The first song that caught my attention was Fragile Bird. It was a video on Much More (Remember when the word Music was there?). And it's one of those things that makes me thankful for CanCom.
I don't remember the video at all. I think I've only seen it twice and it clearly didn't leave a lasting memory, but the song did. I couldn't remember the name, except to see it, so I had to quest through the CD bins to find it. I came up with the album Little Hell.
We Found Each Other In The Dark starts the album off on a nice sunny day. It's one of those happy love songs that is sweetly sickening. It's cotton candy at the fair, with your love for your audio pleasure.
I find that this album likes to counterpoint itself from track to track, which is genius from my stand point. When Natural Disaster kicks in you are safely assured that this is not going to just be some sissy Jewel Folk Pop album. (I liked Jewel's first two albums, just so we are clear.) I love slide guitar and there's a bunch all over this song. Plus, it's quick, vibrant and not overly happy lyrically.
The Grand Optimist instills the fact that this album will just continue to counter point itself. Talk about soft, light, and mellow, mixed with thick, heavy and strong all in one song. It's just so rich and full, but simple.
The title track is the fourth song on the album. It's slow melodic and really strikes that heavy innner core. It's the albums slow song for the High School dance, but a lot better than most of the crap you hear. This song has soul.
That leads into Fragile Bird. I can't stress how much I like this song. It's slowly quick, complicatedly simple, and the vocals are just astounding. This song is the pinnacle of great music writing to go with the lyrical content. Maybe I'm over reaching and giving the band too much credit, but I don't think so. This album is very intelligently written.
Northern Wind is much like the title track in the style and vibe. This song relies more on a string accompaniment to help set the mood and feeling. This may be the most mellow and kind of boring song on the album. Still very nice.
O'Sister is probably my second favourite song on the album. First off, the guitar work is fantastic. Top notch finger picking, with those eccentric little finger slide squeeks left in. It's beautiful, and that's without taking into consideration the actual arrangements and layer to the song. Oh yeah, the lyrics are a bit typical, like the title implies, but the way Dallas Green sings them mixed with the guitar is hypnotic.
Another prime example of intelligence on this album is found in Weightless. The song floats, swoops, dives, glides, drifts, all with a sense of personal mass.
Sorrowing Man is really cool, with it's Nick Cave meets Johnny Cash swagger and depth. It even has this real sense of despondancy that can be found in songs like David Bowie's Rock N' Roll Suicide.
The album get's a little light and fluffy, and it is a very good break from the heavy stuff, when Silver And Gold kicks in. It's a silly little song like we came to love and enjoy from Jewel, before she went all musically stupid to try and stay relevant. Although lyrically, it's got a deeper meaning if you actually pay attention.
The album finishes up with Hope For Now. I personally spent the whole song waiting for the heavy part to kick in. It really sounds like a giant build up is coming. Then when the build up finally kicks in, it's this rich full minimalistic grand finale at the end of the album.
Let me start with Alex Newport's production makes this album. I don't know if it would have sounded as good as it did without the production. The music is awesome with it's heavy usage of folk, blues, soul, a little jazz, and basic rock, but the production is what keeps it so full and rich sounding.
It's like Led Zeppelin's first album in some ways, but without that heaviness associated with Hard Rock or Metal. The heavy on this album is about the spirit. A very, very heavy soul walking with very heavy steps.
8/10 - content
10/10 - production
9/10 - personal bias
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