July Talk have been consistently one of the best live bands in North America over the last six or seven years. They also make some of the best music videos with the ability to conceptualize their songs visually in an interesting way. Their newest clip, for 2020’s “The News,” is certainly no different.
Taken from their album Pray For It, which came out last summer, “The News” has only become more relevant in 2021. This line in particular found new meaning after the insurrection at the Capitol building on January 6: “guess everyone who spoke in tongues had lied/in the lobby watched the dawning of a different side/gimme context, without context everything is true.” Leave it to Canadians to pitch perfect takes on America every time.
I like the fun take on a studio shoot combined with Leah Fay’s reporter character starting to meld minds with the singer. It’s perhaps a reference to news anchors like Don Lemon, Anderson Cooper, and even yesterday Bob Sellers of Newsmax (and seriously, how bad does it have to get if an anchor on Newsmax is storming out of your interview) who have been channeling our frustration from time to time and calling out those talking heads who exist only to propagate lies and fan the flames of division.
What I’m saying is these folks in July Talk, they’re smart. And intense. And also really, really nice if you ever get a chance to talk to them. You can pick up their records from their website and I really hope once this pandemic is over you go see one of their shows. It’s really something worth checking out.
P.S.-I have a photo of Peter and Leah hanging on my wall that I took when they played a show at Subterranean way back in 2015 and it’s one of my favorites that I’ve ever taken. And it looks great on the wall.
