July Flame [CD]

"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.

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.

Laura Viers is a new name to me, but given the evidence on offer in this nifty little lo-fi folk-pop album, I 'll be investigating more of her back catalogue as soon as I can. Her songs focus mainly around finger -picked guitar, sing-songy choruses and plaintively wispy vocals.It's a winning formula, but one that takes time to work.For what at first sounds like yet another earnestly drippy singer- song writer effort, strangely ends up having real staying power.It may all sound rather naive,but beneath the simplicity,there is real craft and intelligence going on here,not to mention heart felt performances and well thought out instrumental sections.

In a word this album is a little gem -beguiling and sufficiently varied to warrant many a visitation to your CD player.If there was ever an antidote to a cold Grey Winters day,'July Flame' is it.

Recommended.