“Sleeper in the Valley”
from the album July Flame
2010
iTunes
Laura Veirs is the furthest thing from a tortured artist. She’s a clean-living, life-loving Portlander who spends her days meditating and her weekends camping. That’s a blessing for her physical and mental health, though not necessarily for her career, considering that the most memorable singer/songwriters traditionally haven’t been the happiest ones.
On her seventh album, July Flame, Veirs continues to find inventive ways to work around this challenge, singing of life’s wonderments without succumbing to the adult-contemporary blandness or twee cutesiness of other singers who share her disposition. It helps that she’s an economical lyricist who can mine gold from the smallest muses. The album’s evocative title track is named for a type of peach, for instance, but the words also conjure images of summer flings and campfires. It’s one of the finest songs she’s ever written, building to a striking, Sufjan Stevens-esque coda of strings and a choir of friends.
With its earthy tones, orchestral flourishes and girlish glow, July Flame closely resembles (a)spera, the latest album from neighboring Portland singer Mirah — both were recorded with producer Tucker Martine — but Veirs distinguishes herself with melodic twists and a poetic optimism that are all her own. “Life is good,” she beams repeatedly on the song that perhaps best sums up her entire discography, “Life is Good Blues.”