I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: CITY AND COLOUR-Live @ The Orange Lounge EP (2010).

City and Colour is Dallas Green from Alexisonfire (he’s the one with the good singing voice as opposed to the screamy guy).

This EP contains 6 songs, 4 from his last album Bring me Your Love and the 2 hits from his first album Sometimes.

As with his previous live release [Live CD/DVD], he sings these songs solo.  Each song is done on acoustic guitar.  But unlike that Live album, this disc does not appear to have been recorded in front of an audience.  There is no cheering, no banter, just him and his guitar.

If you’re a fan of Green (and you really like his voice) this is a great release.  There are several spots where he sings in if not acapella, then with very quiet musical accompaniment so his voice is pretty naked.  This is a limited edition EP (apparently) but it’s a really good introduction to the man and his music.

I must say though that I never noticed just how obsessed with death he is!  This recording style really highlights all the times he says death or dead.  Huh.

[READ: September 12, 2010] “Love in the Ruins”

This was the darkest of all of Wells Tower’s Outside magazine pieces.  And although it has some humor, for the most part it was a sad lost-love letter to a city that he once knew.

One year after Hurricane Katrina, Tower went back to New Orlenas to ride his bike.  He had lived in New Orleans for a short time before Katrina hit and he used to ride his bike for long stretches across the Mississippi River levee.  He decided to revisit it to see what it was like after the disaster.

Aside from the devastation (which didn’t really hit the area where he goes for his ride), it is the attittude of the people (and the chemicals in the air) that he finds toxic.  He is chased by a pit bull and followed by a guy in a pickup truck who demands his camera.  A great example of his writing follows this incident:

I indulge a detailed fantasy about a day, years down the line, when I’ll have a  hard time explaining to a child about the lunatic era in American history when it was a matter of federal concern that a man had paused in his travels to take a snapshot of a dirt factory.

Unlike his other pieces which, although dark, offer a ray of hope, there is very little here.  And the article is all the surprisingly affecting because of that.

It’s available here.