Track By Tracks: July - Love Apocalypse (2015)

The album was recorded at Aardvark studios in Steubenville Ohio. July consists of Fredrik Von Hamilton - Vocals/Drum programming, Al Augustine - Guitars, Jim Lunt -Keyboards/Bass, Zero -Guitar/Bass, and Tom S. - Guitar. All of the lyrics were written by Fredrik Von Hamilton and the music by Al Augustine, Zero, Jim Lunt and Tom S.

1. Love Apocalypse:

The title track starts off with a sample "they realized that all they needed was feedback" then the song comes in with a burst of feedback and into the lyrics "All you want to do is take. Take my live it`s so long. Always on the outside where fatal flowers claim their executions. My time has come. Love not around me this is not love that surrounds me."

2. The Tide:

Kicks the album into overdrive with a slow steady beat and waves of feedback that sound almost like keyboards and ends in a sample of ocean waves. "Take my place once again, find out what`s not worth winning, caught up in the emptiness and I can`t replace this feeling. The Tide comes roaring in sweeping my heart away on this lazy day."

3. Dear July:

Is literally a fan`s suicide not and Von Hamilton sings the note in the song. It`s a slow back beat with orchestration and a swirling laced feedback guitar solo at the end by Al Augustine. "Abandoned by the likes of you. You used me again. Abandoned by you and the seeds are sown. Kill me again stick the knife right in. Twenty five years in an overcrowded prison.... So where do we go from here. Done in. Done in. Done in."

4. Breathe:

Is the poppiest song on the album and rockish. The tempo picks up with a nice acoustic guitar and fast moving guitar courtesy of Tom S over another steady bass line by Zero. "Live alone take a look at me millions of years and tragedies. No mysteries when life`s so low. Breathe in the air it`s all I know."

5. Alaska:

Alaska is arguably the most eerie song on the Love Apocalypse. It starts off with an haunting voice "So long so long so long so long" and a cow bell kicks over a distorted guitar sound. "Feel the water on our thighs and sway as we go. I could (cont.)

"live in your arms indulge in your charms. The beach is close and the water oh so cold I could live in your heart and die in your mind...a long way home...

6. Swim Alone:

The first single off of the re-release Swim Alone is a song for the times. Today we are told to do everything alone even Swim. But it`s even more sinister than that. Swim Alone or else something may happen to you. It`s a question of trust and truth. Starts with a steady mid tempo beat and bass line when the guitar almost out of nowhere lashes into the beat and totally takes it over to set up the vocals. "Old living in a dream that surrounds me. Old dying in the world seeds inside me. Old in the middle of a dream it`s around me. Old exercising my demons trapped inside me. There you are with your nervous charm. There you are they`ve taken everything away!" Swim Alone which was written pre-Covid has been described as the perfect song for the pandemic era.

7. If?:

Starts off with a beat and bass line and picks up when the guitar comes crashing in with a heavy riff. "I hear people crying and drowning in the sea feeling things they don`t want to hear. People crying..."

8. Anastasia:

Continues July`s theme from the first album Obituary of the downfall of Nicholas II Russia`s last czar. This is gothic industrial rock and has a dance beat with a sample that literally sounds like Anastasia who is Nicholas`s daughter "Oh my god." Von Hamilton comes in "I`ll never understand what happened... It`s a fading memory another fading memory."

9. Down:

This is a track that goes way down deep in the darkness of despair and poetically explains the fear and realization of loss. "I never caught your eye and never felt your lips. I`m going down down down... Now I`m near your home you live all alone. Down Down Down. I`m going down down down." The guitar riff completes this post punk track and slashes into the beat.

10. Draw a Picture:

"Get that mental picture going" Upbeat track with rock poppy beat and guitar riff. "Fear of an unknown future makes me cry. Why in my life oh why. Must we always die before it`s time? I need to live for a little while." At the mountain top where we used to drink and I felt your lips now fear runs round and down my stairs. Why in my life? Before it`s time. Must we always die. I need a little while."

11. It isn`t Real:

"I am in a world of shit...." Boom bat beat and digital delayed guitar. "It isn`t real caught in the day. She goes her sacred way. It isn`t real caught in the day. Tragedy for me to feel. It isn`t real. You know who I am. You know where I`m from. Why walk away you know what I do. We`re close to our day." The album nears completion with It isn`t real and leaves the possibility of hope with the words "we`re close to our day..."

12. RiverRun:

RiverRun is an experimental range of sounds. Von Hamilton utters lines from the classic Irish novel. Finnegan`s Wake by James Joyce. "He took a stroll round and took a round stroll and took a round stroll again