Mary Timony lives in Boston -- just like Ally McBeal. And if they both see unicorns, the comparison surely ends there. At the time "The Golden Dove" came out, Mary Timony met G&T while touring in Paris. But first, a recap: In 1994, under the name of Helium, Mary Timony, Shawn Devlin, and Brian Dunton put out the "Pirate Prude" EP, on Matador. Six songs where Mary's voice seems to sing too-shrill melodies to itself, as if nobody else were listening, and floats above a saturated rock scarcely softened by a few small bells. A rough and promising beginning. In 1995, after the single "Pat's Trick," Helium releases "The Dirt Of Luck," which gains a critical but private success. Ash Bowie of the group Polvo replaces Brian Dunton on bass. With a sound less brutal and singing an octave below but still dry, "The Dirt Of Luck" already demonstrates more ambition, and a piano instrumentation presages what will come next. To follow, in 1997 an EP produced by Mitch Easter, "No Guitars," is full of guitars, but also full of chords, keyboards, brass and other ukuleles, giving a very new direction to the music of Helium. A few months later Helium put out "The Magic City," again produced by Mitch Easter. A second album which takes us along in the world of Mary Timony, drawn with coloring pencils where castles, dragons and unicorns conceal a very sophisticated and contemporary melancholy. Rich, colored and inventive, between psychedelic 70s, progressive, folk and even electronic, the music recalls the rough rock'n'roll of their first album only in a remote way. Three years later, Mary Timony releases "Mountains," her first solo album. As rich as "The Magic City" but less plentiful, "Mountains" leaves Mary a free field to explore little legends with her piano. And to showcase her talents on the viola just like, in a more stripped-down sound environment, her very feminine approach to the guitar. Today, "The Golden Dove" continues in the same direction, while cloaking its eclecticism under more guitars and a more abstruse sound, it benefits from the intelligent production of Mark Linkous (of Sparklehorse). At the same time, Mary Timony joined Carrie Brownstein of Sleater-Kinney to put out an EP under the name of The Spells. A close friend of the SK girls, Mary Timony provided backing vocals to several of their tunes and it occurred to them, in concert, to change their song "I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone" into "I Wanna Be Your Mary Timony."
Mary Timony: I always am very influenced by the studios in which I record, I use all that I find there, but generally the songs are already in place. Helium started like an alternative rock group and was transformed into an... artistic group with a different sound, but now that I am alone I think I know what my thing is. And I am no longer in a process of self-discovery, so I just make the music that comes to me naturally. G&T: How did you meet Mark Linkous... Do you listen to Sparklehorse? M.T.: To be honest, no, but I had heard his music and I found it very good. I knew that we probably shared the same esthetics. And my friend Nathan Larson is married in Nina Persson (of Cardigans), whose album Mark produced. G&T: Who do you listen to today? M.T.: Recently... Her Space Holiday... I listen to a lot of Shannon Wright, I like her a lot. But in Boston there are also my friends, or people whom I find very inspiring, not really musicians but rather artists of the scene. For example there is this brilliant woman who throws the baton to pop songs! She is incredible. Miss Dominica K. She comes on with the delirious bearing of a majorette and she twirls her baton to songs by Joy Division, Pet Shop Boys. I adore it. G&T: And less recently? Possible influences from the past? M.T.: I never know how to answer has this question, I was never a fan. I can tell you the musical environment in which I found myself. Where I grew up (District of Columbia) the punk scene was in full swing. I went to concerts by Fugazi and that kind of thing... But with regard to this album there are three things I can see that influenced me: Brian Eno, Alice Coltrane and Ash Bowie. G&T: And as for the lyrics? You read much? They are very literary... M.T.: It's because I majored in English. I have periods where I read, others not. In fact I read a book on medieval France, "The Distant Mirror," which influenced me for certain songs of this album, like "14 Horses," where I speak of falling into a poisoned well, because I read in this book that in France with the Middle Ages, they thought that the Black Death came from people who put poison in the wells. G&T: These 14 Horses also appear in song "I Fire Myself," on "Mountains"... Many images return from one song to the other, as if you were creating your own dictionary. M.T.: Yes. I like really allegories. I hope that people understand them and do not take them all at face value. I refer to many animals in this album, and all these animals represent something for me, one emotion or another. It is a code. I often use peacocks, tigers, bees... The latter refers to myself in general... Ravens generally personify depression, the peacock is in general a boyfriend... G&T: And the ants? M.T.: The ants, it is me. Ants and bees. That comes from a book which I read when I was small, who was called "The Ant And The Bee." It was my favorite book. And my middle name is Bea too... G&T: Do many of your songs speak about your childhood? M.T.: Some, but much less than on "Mountains." On this album, they speak more about now. G&T: For example, what does "The White Room" deal with? M.T.: That's about being laid out on my bed and being very depressed... A relationship which turns bad... Many of these songs are in connection with one period of very deep depression that I had last summer. G&T: Then you write especially when you are sad? M.T.: No, I cannot write when I am really depressed, but the songs speak about it. G&T: In spite of the subjects and the imagery, your music is neither fairy tales, nor is it Gothic or ethereal, but seems rather adult, urban and well-anchored in reality. In particular I think it's thanks to your voice, neither sad nor merry, which seems to be resigned to saying these things... M.T.: Yes, I avoid bringing out too much emotion in my voice, because I love people who sing like that, like Brian Eno or Lou Reed, who are my favorite vocalists. But it is also simply because my voice is made this way, I could not sing differently. G&T: What is your problem with the telephones? In your songs you are always in the process of burying them, smashing them to pieces, or strangling yourself with them... M.T.: (laughter) During one period, I lived alone, and the only means which I had to be in connection with the world was the telephone, and I find very that frustrating... Then that symbolizes just the fact of trying to communicate with people but to be in fact very distant... and isolated. G&T: What about side projects? Concert plans? An album with The Spells or Helium? M.T.: The Spells should put out an album, one recorded with four or five tracks, we hope to make some more. Nothing is sure yet, but it would be nice. Helium is finished. Otherwise, I am touring in the United States with my musicians in June, and we should return here in September, but there again, nothing is sure. G&T: To wrap up, some words on Matador? Do they give you total freedom? M.T.: Practically yes, they are brilliant. For this album, they helped me a lot after the recording, for the visuals and especially to define the order of the songs, which is always most difficult for me, that drives me insane. There are five or six songs that are didn't make it on the album in the end and they helped me to choose... They give really any freedom to their artists.
originally published: http://www.popingays.com/article126.html |
