It’s clear after a single take heed to Little Damage’s Pretty Hours that songwriter Colin Dieden wanted to purge himself. It isn’t all the time fairly.

The ten songs on this album aren’t for everybody. Dieden, onetime lead singer and songwriter for The Mowgli’s, isn’t bashful about confessing his personal sins. He needs to harm those that’ve harm him. He broods over his one-time lover now within the arms of one other. The songs are rife with substance abuse, hangovers, venomous self-denunciation, and eye-popping inspiration.

He wraps quite a lot of these songs up in a vigorous pop package deal. The vocal melodies laden all through Pretty Hours are certainly one of its biggest strengths. They flip the sordidness and dangerous emotions into musical artwork. He sings in quite a lot of totally different voices as properly – usually throughout the identical music. He screams, he soothes, and typically sounds near breaking down earlier than the music concludes.

The title music spotlights among the best melodies. He sings in a close to sway, his voice rising and falling by means of the lyrics, and the various vocal vary he employs offers the music a definite character. The percussion places a spring in its bounce that proves infectious from the primary. “Get Out of My Life” tells the story of an excessive amount of alcohol, home squabbles, and fair-weather pals over a relentless pulse and revved-up guitar. It has an simple pop music pedigree that wallops listeners when the refrain hits.

Each pop album calls for a five-star single. Dieden’s Little Damage has a memorable lead single with the music “I Can Do Higher Than You”. It’s a concentrated energy pop jam with an addictive synth line that buries itself in your mind and gained’t let go…. And also you gained’t need it to.  The lyrics are a screed that rakes his ex over the coals with out ever sounding too crass. The refrain works like a boxer tagging you with a number of set-up pictures earlier than delivering its payoff remaining blow. The video for the music is a winner as properly. It’s drenched in a prism of colours and artsy with out ever trying too pretentious.

There’s an nearly reggae-like tilt to the monitor “Laughing at Myself”. It’s a robust candidate for Dieden’s lyrics at their darkest as he cuts himself valuable little slack. He’s laughing at himself, nevertheless it’s a whacked-out cackle in lieu of sobbing and displays a nothing left to lose perspective. It gained’t be laborious for anybody who’s lived by means of quick occasions and lowlights to narrate to this tune. “Pineapple Pizza”, arguably greater than every other monitor, exhibits how a lot Dieden’s lyrical acumen has grown in recent times. It’s snide, pointed, and surprisingly humorous. The refrain, as soon as once more, would be the focus of the listener’s consideration.

His collaboration with The Prepared Set on “Buttercup” is a slinky and hyper-charged lament on a relationship taking a flip in the direction of disarray. It crackles with creativity. The ultimate monitor “Down Unhealthy for You” is the second of the album’s two collaborative efforts and showcases visitor vocalist Stu Da Boi. It’s one of many few songs recorded for Pretty Hours that takes a guardedly optimistic view of budding romance, albeit filtered by means of a fatalistic perspective. Songs similar to this are gestures in the direction of stability that make Little Damage’s Pretty Hours all of the extra satisfying. It’s some of the fascinating releases of 2023. 

Mindy McCall