With their sleek yet gritty brand of alt-bluesy garage rock, Toronto-based five-piece July Talk create rock and roll that’s both boldly intimate and wildly confrontational. Each track in the band’s repertoire is a conversation in song form, with singers Peter Dreimanis and Leah Fay trading lines in a lyrical face-off that’s at turns hot-tempered and tender, reckless and poetic. Onstage that conversation warps into beautiful chaos, thanks to the band’s joyfully unhinged, spontaneity-fueled live performance. And in their music July Talk piece together supremely heavy riffs, infectious beats, and snaky grooves in a sound that’s savage but seductive.
Founded in 2012, Dreimanis and Fay partnered with guitarist Ian Docherty, bassist Josh Warburton, and drummer Danny Miles. And while Dreimanis’s initial vision for the project centered on that tag-team vocal exchange, July Talk’s emotionally intricate, contradiction-driven dynamic results largely from the band’s raw authenticity.
After finding a manager and setting to work on their debut, July Talk quickly threw themselves into a frantic touring schedule that’s gone a long way in shaping the sound and soul of the band.