Risky Game by Julie July Band is passed like the glances of an old flame in a full room, which provokes that same sense of what-ifs without uttering a single word. The track is an outburst of the edgy nature of the gamble of love, which is their album Flight of Fancy. It builds slowly. However, the heritage of 60s and 70s folk-rock is visible in the band, and it combines the timeless coziness with the modern rhythm which does not seem to be imposed.
Julie July sings with clarity and emotion, with the heartache of one half-forgotten dream of hope and doubt. They rise and fall. Pieces are overlaid, five voices like strands in a woven tapestry, making the piece all the more thick and rich with that persistence that is long-lived when it is no more. The emotion here is not screamed, but experienced in the pauses between notes and it brings one to the heart of the song, not apologetically.
Soulfully gyrating, twangy and bluesy, like fingers following scars where dangers have been taken, the rhythm section plays a steady role, tight drums and bass making the wander stand. Synths hover lightly. Such combination produces an inviting warm haze, with the acoustic softness flashing into electric spark, making the melody a soft current where you are swept away by, but not so sure.
Risky Game is an anthem of the contemplative ones, with its blues-rock heart gripping the exhilaration of temptation and the mute gambit of love. I've replayed it often. It creates an almost radiant glow, as though of embers of a fire that burnt just right, how music can reflect the uneasy way of the heart without being explained.
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