July Flame

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Artist: Laura Veirs
Label: Bella Union
Category: Music

List Price: ~~£14.99~~
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Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars

reviews

Format: Single
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.1
Dimensions (in): 5.5 x 4.9 x 0.4

UPC: 602527219844
EAN: 0602527219844

Release Date: January 25, 2010
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours

Tracks:

•	I Can See Your Tracks
•	July Flame
•	Sun Is King
•	Where Are You Driving
•	Life Is Good Blues
•	Silo Song
•	Little Deschutes
•	Summer Is The Champion
•	When You Give Your Heart
•	Sleeper In The Valley
•	Wide-Eyed, Legless
•	Carol Kaye
•	Make Something Good

Customer Reviews:

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Laura Veirs - Transports you into summer pastures. January 13, 2010
Red on Black (Cardiff)
15 out of 17 found this review helpful

"July Flame" is a "full blown" pedigree lo-fi album from Portland's wonderful Laura Veirs. Recorded in her back room, this is an enchanting, wry and often winsome album. It sometimes seems infused with some of the melancholy that combines with a mischievous quality to be found on Thomas Newman's glorious "American Beauty" soundtrack. Nothing wrong in that at all and while "July Flame" is not high on the excitement Richter scale or will not exactly rock your world this is a lovely piece of work. It is an album indeed that you grow to love a bit more every listen particularly as you notice its small nuances, the introduction of a violin here or a viola there, a harp in the background and small pieces of orchestration.

Laura Veirs is hardly a household name and yet this is actually her seventh album since her debut in 1999. It is also the first since the excellent Saltbreakers in 2007. In that time she has recorded with the Decemberists and clearly has friends in high places as Jim James of My Morning Jacket fame appears in a cameo role singing on "I can see your tracks" the excellent opener to July Flame and on other parts of the album.

What then separates Veirs from the numerous angst ridden American folk singers on offer? Well for a start she is not angst ridden. The quality of some of the songs on July Flame have an incredibly light feel and on times this album almost floats so gently in parts you feel it could break. Listen to the last track "Make something good" and the gentle piano and strings and imagine yourself looking up in bright blue sky (as opposed to sinking in 10 foot snow drifts). It is dreamy and slow and pitched perfect. In the same vein "Where are you driving" could be on Sufjan Stevens magnificent "Seven Swans".

The title track in particular is wonderful and surprisingly sexy. It is the nearest thing on here to an "electric" track building on a taught guitar lines it ends with a "rousing" chorus and drums. It is going to be on repeat for months. Similarly the almost classical "Little Deschutes," sees Veirs piano meander over a slow burning song which wonders, "Why care about yesterday's haze / when the stars above are all ablaze?" Truly gorgeous stuff.

The album is resolutely a summer album and on tracks like "Summer is the champion" and "Wide eyed legless" you can almost hear the insects in the background. "Sun King" is a nice warm alt country track and all this leads one reviewer to conclude that this is the perfect antidote to those winter blues. Indeed in "Carol Kaye" the song tips a wink to fellow Bella Union label members the Fleet Foxes albeit in a much understated way. Mention in dispatches should also go to Sleeper in the Valley with its soft orchestration and the very straightforward love song "When you give your heart" on which Veirs actually sounds a bit like Dido!

"July Flame" is an album which transports you into summer pastures. True its far less quirky and original that say Joanna Newsom's "Vs" but it makes up for that in accessibility and warmth. It is one of those albums that you will probably play to death when the sunnier climbs return, but it is also an album that you will be still be listening to in five or ten years times which is the mark of true worth. An album of considerable charm and a great start to 2010.

5 out of 5 stars

Best yet February 28, 2010
Mark Russell (Reading, UK)
3 out of 4 found this review helpful

I was surprised to find this album only has 4.5 stars, I have every Laura Viers album and EP and whilst Saltbreakers was a slight disappointment the others rate as some of the best music I've ever heard. July Flame is absolutely a return to form and, for me at least, is possibly the best yet.

Oh, and don't be put off by someone else's comment that it's "lo-fi". It's actually possibly her best in recording quality terms too, though some of the earlier albumns set a fairly low bench mark.

5 out of 5 stars

Buy this! April 21, 2010
Lawrence Jones (London)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful

I love this album and I can't stop playing it. Veirs is back on form and it's an album choc-full of great tracks. That's recommendation enough!

4 out of 5 stars

Burns bright May 20, 2010
J. Lachno (London)
At first glance, this record appeared to be more of the kind of twiddly folk music tailor made for Waitrose adverts. At second glance, it still is, but in contrast to the perpetually disappointing `nu-folk' from this side of the Atlantic, Veirs' Portland residence gives this a more satisfying slant - dryer, less faux-authentic, and far less sorry for itself. Two dazzling tracks (`Where are you driving' and `Life is Good Blues') help, whilst the others lope along in a soothingly pleasant, if unremarkable, manner.

Choice Cuts: `Where Are You Driving', `Life Is Good Blues'

4 out of 5 stars

good album March 1, 2010
E. Crisp
0 out of 1 found this review helpful

it's a cracker , i loved it. there are a couple of weaker tracks but on the whole it's really beautiful, well worth a listen!

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