Not Even In July

2010 debut from Canadian singer/songwriter Jesse Marchant. Not Even in July is the kind of record you have to live before you can write. The album is an exquisitely crafted and painfully human collection of songs that exhibit the measured persistence and spectral beauty of a breaking dawn. It feels as weathered and wise as an old home alive, lived-in and loved. Not Even in July is an improbably stunning feat from a man who, until this point in his life, had never considered being a musician or playing his songs live until this year (he's now shared the stage with St. Vincent, Elvis Perkins, Tallest Man on Earth). It plays out like a painstakingly elegant, yet brutally honest break-up letter written by Marchant and addressed to many: A lover, a dying friend, a piece of himself and a passing phase of life. But it's also a love letter to what comes next, and to finally coming home.