July Talk

Canadian quintet July Talk ignite gritty, blues-driven indie rock with synth stabs and a fiery vocal interplay between singers Peter Dreimanis and Leah Fay. Their tension is the backbone of July Talk: Dreimanis’ ragged growl bleeds into the mike like Tom Waits-meets-Nathaniel Rateliff while Fay smooths the edges with her soulful soprano and ethereal sighs. From their Juno Award-winning 2012 debut on through their tension-filled third album, 2020′s Pray for It, the band has enjoyed both critical and commercial success.
July Talk formed in 2010 with bassist Josh Warburton, drummer Danny Miles, and original guitarist Eamon McGrath, who left shortly after the band’s inception and was replaced by Ian Docherty. They released their self-titled debut in 2012 on Sleepless Records. As it gained traction, an extended re-release arrived the next year, with an American edition following in 2015. That year, July Talk won a Juno Award for Alternative Album of the Year. In 2016, they released sophomore effort Touch. Incorporating the sounds of bands like Silversun Pickups, Queens of the Stone Age, and the Kills, Touch included the hit single “Push + Pull” as well as “Beck + Call,” which featured throat singer Tanya Tagaq. Following a four-year gap, July Talk returned in early 2020 with “Pay for It,” a subdued but tense single recalling a violent encounter Fay had witnessed between a group of men and her bandmates. Two more singles followed in advance of the band’s third album, Pray for It, which appeared in mid-2020. ~ Neil Z. Yeung