Today, my guests are Peter Dreimanis and Leah Fay Goldstein.
The reason for this conversation is that Dreimanis and Goldstein are the stars of a quirky, decidedly unconventional romantic comedy called Middle Life, that starts with a serious car crash and has plot points involving bidets and an undiagnosable urinary dysfunction.
Dremainis and Goldstein are charming and have great rapport … which is not surprising to people who know them as the lead singers and creative dynamos behind the blues-tinged rock band July Talk, who rose to prominence in 2012 with their excellent, banger-filled self-titled debut album.
From the start, July Talk stood out because of the striking interplay between their singers’ very different voices – Dreimanis’ gravelly growl and Goldstein’s gentle honeyed vocals – and the palpable chemistry between them that was all too apparent in both music videos and the band’s live shows.
Inevitably, there was speculation for a long time as to whether they were be a couple … It turns out, they are. Not only that, but the release of Middle Life happened to coincide with the birth of their second child.
Post-pandemic, Dremainis and Goldstein have consciously diversified their creative work: following the 2023 release of the fourth July Talk album, Remember Never Before, Dreimanis appeared in Sinners as Bert, the homesteader who’s the movie’s first unfortunate victim, and also put out a beautiful solo record under the name Peter Dreams, which continues the musical evolution evident in July Talk’s output toward a gentler, more introspective sound.
Middle Life is the first time Dremainis and Goldstein have acted together, but far from their first foray into film. In fact, this is their third collaboration with Middle Life’s writer-director Pavan Moondi:Goldstein got her start in acting playing the lead role as a petty struggling actress in Moondi’s 2015 comedy drama Diamond Tongues, on which Dreimanis was the cinematographer, and he also shot Moondi’s 2017 comedy Sundowners, in which Goldsteinhas a supporting role (A little context: Pre-fame, Dreimanis ran a film production company with July Talk’s bassist Josh Warburton!)
I’ve been a July Talk fan for a long time, so I jumped at the opportunity to talk to Goldstein and Dreimanis … and I also have to acknowledge the heroic lengths they went to in order to make this conversation happen! They found time to talk with me in the midst of childcare for their toddler and newborn, on a day when terrible air quality due to intense Canadian wildfires meant neither they in Toronto nor I in New York were able to go outside.
Despite those obstacles, it was an amazing conversation – connected, substantive and profound – that touched on such topics as: generational trauma, loss, learning to trust one’s innate wisdom, their emotional visit to the Mauthausen concentration camp, Goldstein dreaming new Angel Olsen songs, Dreimanis’ rec hockey league for “sensitive art guys,’ and much, much more.
Middle Life is in theaters in Los Angeles from July 29, expanding to New York City and beyond from August 7, and the couple’s first cinematic collaboration, Diamond Tongues, is available to stream. July Talk’s superb back catalogue and Dreimanis’ solo Peter Dreams record are available wherever you get your music.
This episode was produced by Myron Kaplan and the theme music is by The Range.
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Next week on Nobody’s Ever Asked Me That, my guest is cinematic iconoclast Nicolas Winding Refn …
Featured image of Peter Dreimanis and Leah Fay Goldstein by Vanessa Heins.
