JULY SKIES
The Weather Clock
(Make Mine Music)
By Todd Lavoie
Oh, 2008 – you’ve been too kind! Well, musically speaking, anyhow – the year left a bit to be desired in some other regards, I suppose, but it certainly did its best to compensate by unleashing a wild torrent of CD releases ready to scratch away at all of our musical itches.
Now that we’re pinning up the new calendar and reflecting on the past year, I thought this might be the perfect moment to throw some superlatives behind one 2008 release in particular, which, sadly, remained largely off the collective radar of the American listening public: July Skies’ sumptuously iridescent ambient-pop stunner The Weather Clock.
Released this past summer in Britain, the disc never received a thorough distribution stateside. It might require a little work to track this one down, but such efforts will be greatly rewarded. Wistfully melancholic and dreamy, it’s tailor-made for a cup of tea, a ruminating mood, and your best pair of headphones.