From celebrations of youth to meditations on transience and loss, the passage of time has provided generations of musicians with fertile thematic fodder. Antony Harding (aka
July Skies) is part of that pop and rock tradition, but his exploration of memories is more conceptual.
July Skies' entire raison d'être is nostalgia, referencing not just the past but a specific bygone place and time: the cultural and emotional geography of post-war Britain, whose disappearing traces are woven into
The Weather Clock's aural tapestry like an absent presence. Nevertheless, Harding's approach here is more evocative than literal, the majority of his songs purely instrumental. Nodding to
Flying Saucer Attack,
Eyeless in Gaza,
Eno,
Durutti Column, and
Slowdive, these are slow motion, atmospheric pieces. Fashioned from fragile, echoing guitars -- supplemented with clarinet, bass, piano, and organ -- they offer fading, blurry sound-postcards from a largely imagined past. Even on the tracks with vocals, "Girl on the Hill" and "One Morning in May," the meaning of the words is secondary to the hazy, ineffable tone of Harding's voice, which adds to the material's gently haunted, yearning quality. At the same time, titles and sonic clues do subtly orient listeners within these sepia-tinted soundscapes: "Afternoon Pips" opens the album with the famous voice of the British speaking clock; the title "See Britain by Train" (an old British Rail slogan) identifies Harding's inspiration; the simple piano melody of "Broadcasts for Autumn Term" has a distinctly English hymnal feel; and sounds from nature enhance the pastoral flavor of "Distant Showers Sweep Across Norfolk Schools." Insofar as Harding's music is preoccupied with a particular past moment, it runs the risk of appealing only to those with some connection to that experience; however, his focus is far from exclusive, since each track comprises an emotive, oneiric canvas onto which listeners can project their own imagery and associations. ~ Wilson Neate