UK artist Antony Harding, recording as July Skies, draws creative impetus from the English countryside, historic field patterns, open skies, prehistoric terrain, derelict World War II landing strips, and the illustrations found in Ladybird books of the 1960s and 1970s. Through this lens he crafts tributes to avian life on “Swallows And Swifts,” to crumbling ecclesiastical buildings across eastern England on “The Ruined And Disused Churches Of Norfolk,” and to forsaken coastal watch-posts on “Coastal Stations.” His personal site further connects to archives devoted to 1970s children’s television staples such as Bagpuss and Trumpton, alongside comprehensive listings of disused British airfields. The opening cut of his 2002 debut album reworks the familiar cadences of UK shipping forecasts. Although Harding openly embraces nostalgia, he steers clear of direct sonic quotation or easy cultural theft. He has singled out Slowdive of Creation Records for thanks on that debut—“who started a dream”—yet his work also echoes the unhurried instrumentals of Sarah Records act Blueboy and the fragile guitar lines of Vini Reilly in the Durutti Column without becoming derivative of either. The result is a music at once oddly timeless and unfailingly melodic. To underscore these affinities, fifty of the five hundred copies of the “At The Height Of Summer” 7-inch were issued with individually numbered photographs of skies, terrain, and ancient sites from various English locations. Harding additionally plays in the Birmingham-based electronica outfit Avrocar.
