July Talk: "No Safe & Sound" Single Release.
Photo supplied via Six Shooter Records. Image by: Mitch Brown
February 22nd, 2024
Josalynn Lawrence
Good morning folks!
Wonderful news in the music sphere. At midnight, July Talk released their new single, “No Safe & Sound” via Six Shooter Records. The release is in anticipation of the deluxe edition of Remember Never Before out March 8th, 2024. Engineered by Nyles Spencer at Bathouse Studio (perhaps most recognized for its distinguished owners – The Tragically Hip) up near Kingston, Ontario, the track was produced by Broken Social Scene’s Kevin Drew. Mixing and additional engineering was done by the band’s guitarist Ian Docherty.
The record, originally released as an 11-track album last January, will feature two new singles, “No Safe & Sound” and “Rabbit Side” alongside two live versions of the tracks, “After This”, “I Am Water”. The piano version of “When You Stop” will also be included in the deluxe edition.
Remember Never Before is a record that could be described as both cathartic and intimate; it’s a markedly poignant direction for the band as demonstrated through tracks like, “Raw” and “When You Stop”.
“No Safe & Sound” feels like what would happen if you released a track featuring your innermost worries when you’re awake at 4am, and you can’t sleep. There are lines that feel particularly voyeuristic – as if the listener is catching on to an unseen conversation the narrator is having with themself. “When you die in my dreams at night/in this blood is pain/But it is mine” – our narrator is plagued by worries on their own vulnerabilities – “I know I can’t I promise you/That I’ll never take it out on you/ That I’ll always be enough for you…” The lovely thing about the track is that despite the reveal of minor insecurities and worries– feelings that threaten to overwhelm, there’s an underlying feeling of hope behind it all. “But I will try…”
There’s one line that I think stands out, “Hold You Tight. Apologize – I know this fear of death is a fear of life.” It’s a callback to the opening sequence in which our narrator is plagued by a nightmare of death. I love this line and particularly the images it invokes - Violence and Protection. Life and Death. Fears and Reflections. When you add in the soft, almost spoken word like cadence of vocalist Leah Fay Goldstein, you can’t help but feel drawn in to the vulnerability.
It's a beautiful, beautiful track that I think voices the concerns behind any new chapter in life. What the hell are we to do when we’re faced with something so utterly challenging and new – it frightens us?
The key, I think, lies in the simple promises we can make not only to ourselves, but to those around us.