July Flame is American singer-songwriter Laura Veirs

Laura Veirs

Laura Pauline Veirs is an American singer-songwriter.Veirs was raised in Colorado, studied geology and Mandarin Chinese at Carleton College, worked as a translator for a geological expedition in China, and now lives in Portland, Oregon.While growing up, she heard folk-country, classical, and pop...

' seventh studio album, released on January 12, 2010.

The title comes from a type of peach Veirs saw at a farmer's market. Jim James

Jim James

James Edward Olliges Jr. , professionally known as Jim James or Yim Yames, is the lead vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter of Louisville, Kentucky-based rock band My Morning Jacket. James grew up in the Hikes Point neighborhood of Louisville, attended St. Martha grade school and graduated...

 of American rock band My Morning Jacket

My Morning Jacket

My Morning Jacket is an American rock band from Louisville, Kentucky.The band consists of Jim James , Tom 'Two-Tone Tommy' Blankenship , Patrick Hallahan , Carl Broemel , and Bo Koster .-History:My Morning Jacket was...

 contributes falsetto

Falsetto

Falsetto is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentous edges of the vocal folds, in whole or in part...

 harmonies on several tracks, including "Carol Kaye" which is a tribute to the so named bass guitarist

Carol Kaye

Carol Kaye is an American musician, best known as one of the most prolific and widely heard bass guitarists in history, playing on an estimated 10,000 recording sessions in a 55 year career....

.

Reception

Reviews of July Flame have been favorable. The Independent

The Independent

The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...

calls it an "obliquely beautiful record, as they tend to be. Poetic and simple". The New York Times says it is " full of layered folk and indie-rock bucolia and plain-spoken but stretchy-thinking language" and "there are some great, seemingly unforced, séancelike moments here". The Guardian

The Guardian

The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

praises the album as "so extravagantly beautiful that it will send you scurrying back to its predecessors". Entertainment Weekly

Entertainment Weekly

Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...

writes that the album "sends us on hikes through dreamy landscapes evoked by her uniquely tangy voice, casting minimal instrumentation in glistening arrangements to captivate the melancholy imagination." Paste Magazine proclaims that the album is Veirs' "finest work", and says "It's hard to imagine a better soundtrack to the chilly months than this collection of heady, steady, pensive songs".

Track listing

1. "I Can See Your Tracks"
2. "July Flame"
3. "Sun Is King"
4. "Where Are You Driving?"
5. "Life Is Good Blues"
6. "Silo Song"
7. "Little Deschutes"
8. "Summer Is the Champion"
9. "When You Give Your Heart"
10. "Sleeper in the Valley"
11. "Wide-Eyed, Legless"
12. "Carol Kaye"
13. "Make Something Good"