Portland-based singer/songwriter Laura Veirs is perhaps better associated with the punk and riot grrl movements, but you'd be forgiven for thinking otherwise after hearing her eighth release, July Flame. In place of electric guitars, there are acoustic; in place of aggressively played instruments, there are hushed vocals, pianos, and piles of strings. But if the results Veirs achieves here are any indication, it's a path which the songwriter should follow more often: the title track is lovely and sublime, "Little Deschutes" - named for a river in Oregon - is a quiet, fragile waltz, "Sleeper In The Valley" moves from an understated, guitar-plucked verse to a dark, tragic chorus laced with sawing strings and church bells, and "Wide-Eyed, Legless" is built around a mercilessly catchy string riff. These are all songs which can easily be described as great, and many of the other songs are alluring and beautifully arranged, but the album as a whole never really rises above the sum of its parts: it never coalesces together into the breathtaking thing you hope it will become. But even if July Flame falls just short of being a great album, it's still one well worth tracking down.
Track picks: "July Flame," "Sleeper In The Valley," "Wide-Eyed, Legless"
July Flame score: 80
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