What makes City And Colour’s latest album The Hurry And The Harm unique is the upheaval Dallas Green was experiencing during its creation.

“It was written through a large transitional period of my life,” he says. “I was leaving something I love, with people I loved and moving on to try something different.

“I would say the record is a document of that time.”

Green penned the album having left his band of ten years to focus more on his solo career.

While Green’s function in Alexisonfire was to provide the melodic counterpoint to fellow frontman George Pettit’s throaty roar, City And Colour was always a quieter, more acoustic project.

“When I started doing this, people couldn’t wrap their heads around the idea that someone coming from one style of music might listen to something else rather than just hardcore,” says Green.

“Everyone in the band liked angry music but we all listened to tons and tons of different styles.

“As much as I love aggressive music, when I write songs I can only write them in a certain way which my voice allows me to sing them. I’ve always been a big fan of sitting by myself and playing the acoustic guitar.”

Green told Alexisonfire he wanted to leave in 2010 but stayed for a further seven months before the announcement was made public.

“I made my third album Little Hell when I was thinking of myself being out of the band, but I hadn’t announced it,” he says.

“When I was doing press I was still lying about being in Alexisonfire, because everyone would always ask me about it. It was slightly playing on me a bit.”

The announcement was finally made in 2011 but the damage had already been done.

“The final tour was depressing, as we were keeping the split a secret from everyone,” says Green.

In 2012 he started to pen The Hurry And The Harm. At the same time he made approaches to the rest of his former band to finish off Alexisonfire properly with a farewell tour.

“The farewell tour really gave me the closure that I think I was searching for,” he says.

“I made this record a month before the tour. Those last two months of 2012 were great. I made this record I was really proud of and I got to go on a final hurrah with those guys.

“It was nice to be able to do something a lot of bands don’t get to do – a last real goodbye. We were all in good spirits – it was closing the book the right way.”

The album cover of The Hurry And The Harm is a first for Green, with a photograph of his face staring back out at listeners.

“Even with Alexisonfire records we never put pictures of ourselves on the record,” says Green.

“The reason I perform as City And Colour and not Dallas Green is because I never really wanted it to be about me but more about the songs.

“With this record I felt like it had been long enough – I can start feeling more comfortable about myself.”

The sound of the album is also a move away from the more stripped-down acoustic music of his previous City And Colour releases.

“I started thinking about Mumford And Sons and Fleet Foxes cashing in on this certain style of sound but I felt like I had already done that. I wanted to make a record that was a bit louder, with a full band.

“I didn’t want any preconceived notions about what City And Colour should be.”

He also moved out of his native Canada to record the album with producer Alex Newport, electing instead to record in Nashville.

Now he is enjoying the experience of being back on the road with a band.

“There can be special moments on stage between a bunch of guys,” he says. “It doesn’t happen every night but when it does it really carries you and tells you why you want to continue [to be a musician].

“I’ve got a good group of guys with me and I feel like I’m playing my best music live. It’s cool because I can take older songs and solo songs and make a new live version of them.

“I’ve always appreciated that with bands I like.”

Support from Hannah Georgas.