July Talk: Touch [SLEEPLESS]

Why you'll love it

Touch won the Juno Award for Alternative Album of the Year in 2017. Tanya Tagaq brings her throat singing to "Beck + Call," and Leah Fay and Peter Dreimanis trade lines all over "Push + Pull" and "Picturing Love."

About the album

Every good duet needs a bit of friction, and July Talk have built a whole band on it. Leah Fay's clear, sweet voice and Peter Dreimanis's gravel-pit growl pull against each other from the first note, and on their second album the Toronto five-piece push that tension into bigger, sharper songs about connection in a world of screens.

The bed tracks went down at Jukasa Studios in Ohsweken, Ontario, with overdubs at Dreamhouse in Toronto. Ian Davenport produced most of it, with Alex Bonenfant and Thomas D'Arcy adding production. "Picturing Love" opens with a swagger, "Push + Pull" is a hooky tug of war, "Lola + Joseph" and "Johnny + Mary" keep up the couples theme, and "Beck + Call" turns electric when Tanya Tagaq arrives. Now magazine heard it as a record that "bristles with the electricity of connection."

It's a proudly local record from top to bottom. Sleepless Records is a short walk from our Queen Street store, which makes this about as close to home as a Juno winner gets without sleeping on our floor.

Also at Kops: more July Talk on vinyl · browse CDN Pop / Rock

Tracklist

Listen

On Sleepless Records (cat# SR0005V), the 2016 album.