Little Hurt is the solo project, of a sort, for former Mowglis front-man Colin Dieden and its new single “Cooler If U Did” sticks with you like a particularly artful rant. Dieden’s aims and overall tone are very different with this project than the work he put in with his one-time bandmates, but they share several easy similarities. Dieden’s pop sensibilities are impossible for him to suppress, but his rock and roll spirit is as well and it’s cut from a much more classic cloth than many of his contemporaries. He’s been able, however, to weave variants into the song’s fabric that creates patterns all his own, subtle, yet leaping out from the song as belonging to no one but him.
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There’s a lot of angst in this track and it pops out of the lyrics at unexpected moments. The song, in general, is a vigorous workout, musically and lyrically, and the words seemingly inspire Dieden to pump additional oomph into his vocal. He’s a superb singer for this kind of material anyway and his rambunctious affinity for surprise will keep attentive listeners, initially, on the proverbial edges of their seats.
It is restless creativity, never stopping for long, but you want to take the journey with him. Part of it is the authoritative manner of the performance. Dieden has such absolute faith in the drum pattern kicking things off for this song and it does swing, it swings hard, and this sort of simple and unmitigated hubris makes you think, in some fashion, I want to hear to how this plays out.
Here is where Little Hurt’s “Cooler If U Did” makes the first of a series of improbable turns. He slowly finds his way through pop, high-polish acoustic pop, and later styles that the review will leave to surprise listeners. If you have not heard Little Hurt and Colin Dieden before today, that is. If this isn’t your first go-around with the songwriter, however, you’ll enjoy hearing him hit what surely must be a new peak with this track.
He sounds keyed up and ready to tangle with anyone who says differently. Both the words and vocals for the song are impassioned, though no one will ever accuse him of descending into unnecessary hysterics. Musicality remains the order of the day. It’s orchestrated chaos, sometimes a bit theatrical, but there’s no question that Dieden means every word of the singing. The sense of stakes here is real and grows as the song progresses.
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It is easy to expect this level of intensity, despite its high temperature, will not soon cool off and Little Hurt will continue releasing singles this good for the near future. It doesn’t sound like it was so much written and/or composed by Dieden, but more like it erupted from a place within where he’s long harbored the song. It makes for the best music, it’s all too rare, and it is the sort of quality that encourages listeners to keep coming back for more.
Troy Johnstone