A blistering beat tamed by a velvety vocal. Sleek lyrical daggers laced with a melodic integrity as strong as it is welcoming. A strutting drumbeat that doesn’t need a big ol’ bassline to get us grooving along to the rhythm of the music. This is Little Hurt’s new single and music video “Alaska,” and while it’s only the fourth release from the artist also known as Colin Dieden, it has the look and feel of a breakthrough moment in his solo career. Dieden doesn’t hold back from giving us everything he’s got to give in the studio here – contrary to the minimalistic approach that a lot of his contemporaries have been espousing in recent times, he’s breaking out the lush harmonies and not so supple beats like they’re back in style once more. “Alaska” is more pop than it is rock, but no matter how you choose to brand this track, one thing is absolutely undisputable; it’s a song that dismisses the trends of a tired mainstream in the name of showing us what its composer can do when there aren’t any limits placed in front of him.
MORE ON (COLIN DIEDEN) LITTLE HURT: https://www.facebook.com/littlehurtofficial/
Dieden’s vocal in “Alaska” is quite charming from start to finish, but personally I found the beat to be the main centerpiece in the mix. There’s an argument to be made that everything from the strings to the vocal to the very essence of the lyrical sway is constructed as to make the groove of the percussion the focal point of our attention, but at the same time, it’s difficult for me to peg this as being a one-dimensional number in any category.
The hook is sweet and thoroughly tension-exploiting, allowing for it to produce a vibe with which we’re constantly waiting for the next cathartic eruption in the instrumentation. The framework of both the lyrics and the music is definitely quite retro, but the melodies themselves are what make “Alaska” feel and sound young and fresh no matter how many different ways you dissect its structure. Little Hurt might be an underground act right now, but this kind of material is primetime-quality for sure.
A veteran of the road but a newcomer to the solo singer/songwriter life, Colin Dieden is killing it as Little Hurt in “Alaska” and dispelling the very notion that he’s in over his head with the path he’s chosen to travel. There are a ton of incoming players on the indie circuit that are worth writing home about this summer, but if you’re looking for some plain n’ simple pop/rock that doesn’t try and pretend that it’s the most profound content to hit the airwaves since Zen Arcade, this is the artist that you need to be following.
Little Hurt has a long way to go before he achieve the same kind of success that any of his major influences have enjoyed in the past half-century, but with the momentum he’s building off of songs like this, “Better Drugs” and “It’s Ok Not to Be Ok,” he’s got a lot more excitement coming his way before the year is over.
Jodi Marxbury