In 2010, after returning from a European tour with The Mohawk Lodge, Peter Dreimanis approached Leah Fay after hearing her sing with art/folk group Mothers of Brides at a bar in Toronto. Dreimanis and Fay began to record demos together, and soon formed July Talk with Josh Warburton, Danny Miles, and Eamon McGrath. Eight months later, McGrath left the band to focus on his own material and was replaced by Ian Docherty.

In 2014 July Talk was nominated for Breakthrough Group of the Year at the 2014 Juno Awards in Canada. In 2015, they won the Juno Award for Alternative Album of the Year for their self-titled debut album [m631209], beginning a series of wins in this category that continued with their sophomore release [m1055646] in 2017 and their third album [m1770176] in 2021. [m1055646] also garnered Recording Engineer of the Year honours from the 2017 Junos.

While their debut release features a heavy blues rock sound, July Talk's sound has expanded to incorporate elements of synth rock, disco, and 80s post-punk and experimental influences.

In 2020, July Talk parted ways with their original management team, moving to undefined under a management-only deal and remaining under distribution with undefined (now Majestic Silk) for their third release [m1770176].

In 2021, Dreimanis and Goldstein announced the launch of Danuta, a production company for creating music videos and other art projects. To date, the company has produced videos for the likes of Jasmyn Burke, Lou Canon and "After This", the lead single for July Talk's fourth album.

2021 also marked the debut of percussionist Dani Nash joining the live lineup of the band. In 2022, the band promotional images and bio were updated to reflect Nash as an official sixth member of the group, with songwriting credits attributed to her for the fourth album. 2022 also marked a full transition by the band to undefined for management and distribution, marking the end of their relationship with undefinedMajestic Silk.