City and Colour ‘If I Should Go Before You’

By Laisha Cruz

In City and Colour is a Canadian Singer whose real name is Dallas Green. His type of music is acoustic-folk. He is mostly a solitary writer, learning music by himself, being independent. He has been into music since 2005, with his first album Sometimes. That album portrays him as a completely different person than he is now in “If I Should Go Before You.”

This album had more meaning to him than most; it felt more inspirational. Since, he has been touring around the world with The Hurry and the Harm, he felt more open with his music and work with others. He wrote this album with more emotion, more power to enable him to capture the true pain following heartbreak

Green said, “I was so excited about being able to make and record an album with these guys that it just flowed. I felt so confident about their abilities to make all of my ideas come true.” The fact he’s finally at a point in his career where he feels he belongs, and can just focus on making music brings a smile across the face of many.

Let’s plunge into more details of this album. This album is his fifth one and the one he seems to have given it all he has. He produced ballads, a little of punk rock, and even put some southern mix in there. I believe that this album is one of the best because its his strongest. it demonstrates a stronger, more instrumental, live sound. Being able to be successful at producing an all around solid album is hard to come by for a singer-songwriter.

The first song on the album, “Women”, is sensational. It’s a phenomenal introductory song for his album. I feel like its an enormous tease, it just gives you a little taste of the music as well as the story he’s telling. It gives off a strong sense of sadness and a cynical mood. The guitar, beats, and vibe of the song scream sorrow.

 

In “Northern Blues” he just sings about the sadness he feels. It’s apparent in his voice and just shows that he is tired of always being upset. This is a great song to listen to in times of sorrow.

“Mizzy C” gives off a more rock mood like “I don’t care”.  He just talks about looking back to his youth years and people not really understanding him.

“If I Should Go Before You” is my favorite song on the whole album! I feel like this sound takes you into another level if you’ve ever lost someone of importance in your life,someone like Ex-girlfriend/Ex-boyfriend, even a loved one that passed away. There is so many ways to connect to this song. Its a song you must listen to!

“Killing Times” is  more upbeat, its more about enjoying time and not being too worried about anything. It’s about you, and knowing your worth. Just getting away from your normal routine in life. To just kill Time!

“Wasted Time” I feel like it’s more about wasting your time on someone that really didn’t care about you, “like dang you made me fell careless and worthless”.  Dallas really felt that whatever was a waste of time just made him a prisoner of love. That also follows through with “Runaway” Like finally I let everything go from the chain that was holding you suppressed.

But you see on the other hand “Lover Come Back” just talks about  my lover left and gives the sound of the blues, the guitar and everything so relaxed.
“Map of the world” would be awesome to listen to while your driving and hanging out. It’s upbeat and yet so full of life.

When you feel like  you made a huge mistake in life and you regret it, you might as well embrace it. That’s what “Friends” is about.

“Blood” is the most touching out of all them, with the bass, guitar, and the setting it creates. You can listen and it’s as if you can feel it racing through your blood. You can hear him spilling his heart out about giving up everything and finding something beautiful and great after suffering.

Over all this album is astonishing. I’m in love with every song; I can relate to it and love it.