Laura Veirs
July Flame
Rating: 4.0/5.0
Label: Raven Marching Band Records
Surely there’s no pressure in having Colin Meloy dub your upcoming record “the best album of 2010″ before the books even close on 2009? If there is, I’m pretty sure Laura Veirs — and her latest effort, July Flame — can take the heat.
Veirs’ brainy folk has earned her plenty of accolades, not to mention a collaboration (and tour) with Meloy’s band/spiritual brethren, the Decemberists. But while the latter tend to tip their hats toward the literary and historical world, Veirs (a former geology major) has tended toward the elemental. On July Flame, she softens her approach and the effect is actually more dazzling and beguiling than the meteor showers that used to color her writing. It seems Veirs has traded studying rocks for canning peaches, letting her defenses crumble and her vulnerabilities glow. Even her enunciation is more ethereal.
From the opening strains, it’s obvious that this is a gentler, less guarded version of Veirs. The music is softer, more delicate, Veirs’ voice more girlish. The cozy chamber-folk vibe of her adopted home of Portland, Oregon seems to have seeped into every nook and cranny, infusing the proceedings with warmth and sunshine. Ostensibly an ode to summer, July Flame feels almost autumnal in its delivery. Some of that can surely be attributed to its author’s long tenure in the Northwest and its fleeting sunshine, seasonal fruit and its opportunity for backyard campfires. It’s as if Veirs had an epiphany – that the elements will endure while our time in the here and now is ephemeral – and translated that musically.
It would be an oversight not to mention that My Morning Jacket’s Jim James provides backing vocals on several songs throughout the album — but they’re so tastefully mixed into the proceedings that they blend in seamlessly and organically. It’s rare that this kind of firepower is harnessed so effectively, supporting rather than dominating.
Is July Flame the best album of 2010? There are 11 ½ months and countless other releases to sift through before anyone but Colin Meloy feels comfortable making that pronouncement. Is July Flame an exceptional record by a gifted artist who continues to evolve and surprise? To borrow a phrase from a couple of years ago, “You betcha.”
by Barbara Mitchell
