Laura Veirs’ seventh album July Flame is out January on her Raven Marching Band imprint. The collection includes appearances by Karl Blau, Jim James, and Eyvind Kang, among others. It also includes 13 gorgeous songs. Like standout “Wide-Eyed, Legless.” When we asked Veirs about July Flame‘s autumnal sounds she unpacked the title beautifully:

“July Flame” is: A destructive force, lamplight on a cold night, Oregon peach variety, intense summer love, fireworks, war, sunlight trapped in wood, renewal, spooky will-o-the-wisps, desire, pain, ephemera.

You can read her thoughts on the poetry of “Wide-Eyed, Legless” specifically while you give it a listen. (And if you like what you hear, she’s posted the first two July Frame songs for free over at Raven Marching Band. Jim James howls on the opener.)

In this week’s Drop we also offered you the chance win a pair of LaCie Sound2 Speakers.

One winner gets a pair of LaCie Sound2 Speakers, which bring Hi-Fi sound quality to your Mac, PC, or iPod. As LaCie puts it, the Sound2 “represents a stepup from early generation USB Speakers and most importantly … With a Class D Digital Amplifier, magnetic shielding, a bass reflex system, and a 30W total peak system output, the Sound2 Speakers provide amazing sound quality.” More details:

• Hi-fi quality sound engineered?by Cabasse
• Easily connect to a Mac, PC,?or MP3 device
• USB bus powered
• Built-in cables for easier connectivity
• Plug & play, driver-free setup for? Mac and PC

They were designed by Neil Poulton and look like this:

Or, next to a laptop:

You can find out more at LaCie. And you can enter to win here. There’s also some time left to win a Kindle, bookworms.

CONTEST ENDS 10/28/09 AT 12PM EST.