City and Colour
Sometimes

THE REVIEW

Can Dallas Green, a man covered in tattoos (even the album cover is tattooed), lead-guitarist of a very screamo band like the Canadian  Alexisonfire, produce an intimate, whispered, totally acoustic album? The answer is...of course YES!! (but damn if it was NO, would I have written this whole introduction, really?)

"Sometimes" 2005 @ Universal is that "sometimes" it's better to turn down the volume, "sometimes" it's better not to shout, "sometimes" we unplug the guitar jacks from the pedals (which also consume energy, let's fight against global warming).

His guitar, his voice, and his skin (and I'd say his guts too), a man trying to express his doubts and demons in a calm manner. "Your words are like knives", Dallas complains, speaking to his woman, why hurt each other? And with sharp weapons, the guy must have had some problems if in "Save Your Scissors" he begs Her (or Him, you never know) to keep the scissors for someone else's skin, his is too sensitive.  You can almost see him sitting on the stool picking, strumming, and soloing (??) while his voice sometimes comes, sometimes goes. Entering the album is like leaving the rest behind, I hadn't felt something like this in years and if I did, I was asleep out of boredom. Here the risk is to fall asleep with a smile on your face or with a tear wetting the pillow.

Skin and wounds, words and tattoos. The album is lacerating and very personal. Sometimes too insistent on the chords, but a feeling, a wound, takes too long to disappear. That's how life goes, particularly Dallas's, traveling and thinking, suffering and brooding. "Hello I'm In Delaware" and "Comin' Home" seem like postcards from a repentant man who wants to go back but is afraid of making another mistake ("How many hearts will die tonight... But I will see you again..") or of the truth waiting for him upon return ("But I have just one last question, will it be my heart or will it be his?"). To speak or not to speak, to say "I love you" or play it tough? And what if I lose you for that reason? ("In The Water, I Am Beautiful").

But I am not a simple man, and if I were simple would you still be by my side? ("Sometimes (I wish)"). Questions that anyone with a heart has asked themselves.

A simple and touching album. Honest and direct. Green's guitar warms the heart and ears like only the words of a broken heart can do. For those who love or those who lack the courage to do it again.