Singer-songwriters, by definition, have two main jobs. For Dallas Green, the core member of City and Colour, the songs are very good. But the voice is show-stopping. Green started out as the underutilized crooner in mostly screaming punk band Alexisonfire. In City and Colour, his best instrument is the obvious centerpiece—a lush, breathy thing that floats above it all. On his fifth album, If I Should Go Before You, Green shoots for atmosphere over song structure. Lead single “Woman” is a foreboding, nine-minute march trading off a simple melody with widescreen lyrics (“I will stand beneath the silver horizon, waiting to resurrect our love”) and angry squalls of electric guitar. It’s the farthest from City and Colour’s humbler folk beginnings that Green has traversed. “Northern Blues” is sun-baked but draped in shadows. Green’s always been a sad-kid songwriter, but there’s an aggression here that we haven’t heard before; If I Should Go lacks some of the tear-inducing beauty he’s captured on past records. But when Green nails it—check out “Lover Come Back”—City and Colour truly takes flight.