Single Review: City and Colour – ‘Wasted Love’
2 min read
Musical over-achiever Dallas Green has just released another song under his solo handle City and Colour in preparation for his fifth album release. The new track is entitled Wasted Love and you guessed it; it’s a lyrical documentation of a failed romance. In comparison to the lengthy 9-minute lead single Woman, Wasted Love is a snippet of what we can expect from the upcoming album If I Should Go Before You that is scheduled to drop in October.
From the get go we’re treated to a song that is instantly recognizable as City and Colour. First we hear the repeating echo pedal that adds an eerie, almost serious vibe to the song then on to the steady drum beats that back Greens crooning voice quite nicely. It hits on some pretty sombre lyrics, emphasising the futile romance, “Tied down to the floor, Like a prisoner of war” / “You make me feel so powerless”. The entire song embodies the old school blues and folk elements that City and Colour as an act always manage to achieve from the production to the painful lyrics.
While there are many redeeming qualities to Wasted Love, at the end of it you’re left feeling a little blue and not in the Blues n’ Roots sense. The single is just a little lacklustre, we’re shown some raw emotion but it just lacks the punch it needs to really bring it home. The strong chorus is repeated so many times in a short space of time that you’re going to know the lyrics on your second listen – but not in the good way, it’s at the point where it gets kind of tiring. Although maybe that’s the point Dallas Green is intending to make, what better way to portray a draining relationship than by delivering a somewhat exhausting single.
Wasted Love is essentially a twisted love song with severe lyrics enhanced though the backing bands smooth rhythms and hasty drums that do work seamlessly with Green’s iconic sultry voice. Just don’t let it smother you before you get a chance to hear it collaboratively as one of the many lyrical confessions City and Colour are going to declare this October. Overall it is a fine little addition to the collection of songs that Dallas Green is building for If I Should Go Before You
