(no subject)
Grant Phipps
November 04, 2005
Encomium
Mary Timony is one of the most interesting artists on the planet. She's not an artist in the traditional sense of the word; she is an accomplished musician. Her music career spans well over a decade with various bands and side projects, all of which have gone unnoticed by the general public. Her performances are intriguing, energetic, casual, and fun.
There's always a question that surfaces about how to define the style of music that an artist plays. A couple months ago, the perfect answer to that question arose. When fans are forced to provide an answer for those interested in Timony's work, they will recall her music as confessional, grunge-pop psychedelia.
Mary Timony's influences hail from the 1970-90s, ranging from post-punk, noise rock, psychedelic rock, and jazz including artists like Richard Hell, Azita, Sonic Youth, Fugazi, Jimmy Hendrix, and Emily Remler.
Mary's music is absolutely brilliant, because it is entirely her creation. She isn't subjugated to mainstream conformity and is able to pursue her artistic vision. Her versatility with various instruments allows her to make aspirations a reality. In interviews, Mary has mentioned how she began playing string instruments like the violin at a young age and then picked up the guitar and piano in her teens. She hasn't abandoned any since, distinctively incorporating all of them in her albums.
Lyrically, much of her inspiration comes from images of fantasy and the spiritual imagination. From the titles of some her songs, "Poison Moon", "Dr. Cat", "Tiger Rising", "Fox and the Hound", "The Owl's Escape" and "I am a Witch", it's obvious that Mary has a fascination with using mystical and mysterious subjects for underling themes involving emotion in her music. Her earlier work deals with the concepts of life and death; she's even ventured into a Latin sung Agnus Dei song from Catholic Mass titled "Flower of the Apocalypse."
Several recorded live interviews involve discussion about her music and her place in the music world. Many of them are from the mid-1990s where many underground names and radio personalities began calling her "the new big thing." Flattered, she answered "I wouldn't say that people are saying that a lot about us at all." In the modern music world, modesty is a difficult quality to find. The mainstream industry is plagued with consistent news stories involving artists criticizing one another. Mary has never involved herself in those matters and has always believed that the best musician is a friendly, involved, confident, yet modest one.
Allmusic.com's biography of Mary is very thorough in describing her musical career. The importance of Mary's place in the music world begins with the story of her teenage years.
Mary was born and raised in Washington, D.C. and began professionally studying guitar at the city's Duke Ellington School of the Arts as a teenager. After graduating from Boston University with a degree in English literature in 1992, Timony replaced Mary Lou Lord in an early incarnation of the band Helium, undertaking creative control of the group prior to the release of their debut single, "The American Jean." "Hole in the Ground" preceded the trio's 1994 Matador EP Pirate Prude; their first full length release, The Dirt of Luck, appeared the following year. In 1996, Timony teamed with bassist Nathan Larson (from the band Shudder to Think), former college roommate and violinist Joan Wasser, and drummer Kevin March to form the super group Mind Science of the Mind. Returning to Helium for 1997's The Magic City, Timony's songs revealed an increasing fascination with the fantastical imagery and progressive rock, a trend continued on her brief collaboration with Sleater-Kinney guitarist Carrie Brownstein. The duo called themselves The Spells, only releasing a four song demo in 1999. The following year, Mary's solo debut Mountains was released.
In 2002, Timony released her second solo album, The Golden Dove, which featured more elaborate melodies with mystical subject matter. Musicans like Sparklehorse's Mark Linkous, Jeff Goddard of Karate and Christina Files of Victory At Sea played on the record. While many critics felt this record was more aligned with her late work with Helium, the inclusion of more provocative and personal lyrics meshed with the fantastic and ethereal landscape. Timony's repertoire has expanded considerably throughout her musical career, illustrating growth as a musician and songwriter. At the same time, Timony participated in various musical and film projects including the mostly instrumental Green 4 and staring in a short film, "Dream Machine" in which she covered the Gordon Lightfoot song "Pussywillows, Cat-tails."
Timony's modesty certainly hasn't affected critics, though. Prior to the release of The Golden Dove, Ian Svenonius, member of the indie rock band, Make-Up, wrote an article about Mary, praising her ambition as a musician.
"The one thing the Rock 'n Roll industry hasn't been able to replicate is a woman from Boston called Mary Timony. Maybe because her music defies Rock 'n Roll convention in such an unusual and unexpected way, sidestepping blues tropes and usualites in a manner that's not self conscious or contrived but genuinely idiosyncratic; completely natural." Svenonius added, "The music through which she graciously invites you into her own world, where the normal rules don't apply" (Svenonius 1).
In 2004, Timony worked on the songs that would become Ex Hex, her most recent solo album, with drummer Devin Ocampo (of The Medications). Brendan Canty, the drummer of Fugazi, produced the entire record in the legendary D.C. recording studio, Inner Ear. Built around a foundation of guitar and drums, the album's eleven songs are a combination of raw garage tunes with beautiful spiraling musical landscapes all imbued with Timony's signature vocals and lyrics.
Fans adoration for Mary has even spawned a website dedicated entirely to her work with complete lyric sheets, an archive of newspaper and magazine articles she's appeared in, and professional and live performance pictures. The site also includes periodic news updates with rare downloadable material. Mary's home can be found at http://pmoon.zip.net.
Svenonius, Ian. "Golden Dove Bio." 2002. http://marytimony.com/neusite/goldendove_bio.htm
November 04, 2005
Encomium
Mary Timony is one of the most interesting artists on the planet. She's not an artist in the traditional sense of the word; she is an accomplished musician. Her music career spans well over a decade with various bands and side projects, all of which have gone unnoticed by the general public. Her performances are intriguing, energetic, casual, and fun.
There's always a question that surfaces about how to define the style of music that an artist plays. A couple months ago, the perfect answer to that question arose. When fans are forced to provide an answer for those interested in Timony's work, they will recall her music as confessional, grunge-pop psychedelia.
Mary Timony's influences hail from the 1970-90s, ranging from post-punk, noise rock, psychedelic rock, and jazz including artists like Richard Hell, Azita, Sonic Youth, Fugazi, Jimmy Hendrix, and Emily Remler.
Mary's music is absolutely brilliant, because it is entirely her creation. She isn't subjugated to mainstream conformity and is able to pursue her artistic vision. Her versatility with various instruments allows her to make aspirations a reality. In interviews, Mary has mentioned how she began playing string instruments like the violin at a young age and then picked up the guitar and piano in her teens. She hasn't abandoned any since, distinctively incorporating all of them in her albums.
Lyrically, much of her inspiration comes from images of fantasy and the spiritual imagination. From the titles of some her songs, "Poison Moon", "Dr. Cat", "Tiger Rising", "Fox and the Hound", "The Owl's Escape" and "I am a Witch", it's obvious that Mary has a fascination with using mystical and mysterious subjects for underling themes involving emotion in her music. Her earlier work deals with the concepts of life and death; she's even ventured into a Latin sung Agnus Dei song from Catholic Mass titled "Flower of the Apocalypse."
Several recorded live interviews involve discussion about her music and her place in the music world. Many of them are from the mid-1990s where many underground names and radio personalities began calling her "the new big thing." Flattered, she answered "I wouldn't say that people are saying that a lot about us at all." In the modern music world, modesty is a difficult quality to find. The mainstream industry is plagued with consistent news stories involving artists criticizing one another. Mary has never involved herself in those matters and has always believed that the best musician is a friendly, involved, confident, yet modest one.
Allmusic.com's biography of Mary is very thorough in describing her musical career. The importance of Mary's place in the music world begins with the story of her teenage years.
Mary was born and raised in Washington, D.C. and began professionally studying guitar at the city's Duke Ellington School of the Arts as a teenager. After graduating from Boston University with a degree in English literature in 1992, Timony replaced Mary Lou Lord in an early incarnation of the band Helium, undertaking creative control of the group prior to the release of their debut single, "The American Jean." "Hole in the Ground" preceded the trio's 1994 Matador EP Pirate Prude; their first full length release, The Dirt of Luck, appeared the following year. In 1996, Timony teamed with bassist Nathan Larson (from the band Shudder to Think), former college roommate and violinist Joan Wasser, and drummer Kevin March to form the super group Mind Science of the Mind. Returning to Helium for 1997's The Magic City, Timony's songs revealed an increasing fascination with the fantastical imagery and progressive rock, a trend continued on her brief collaboration with Sleater-Kinney guitarist Carrie Brownstein. The duo called themselves The Spells, only releasing a four song demo in 1999. The following year, Mary's solo debut Mountains was released.
In 2002, Timony released her second solo album, The Golden Dove, which featured more elaborate melodies with mystical subject matter. Musicans like Sparklehorse's Mark Linkous, Jeff Goddard of Karate and Christina Files of Victory At Sea played on the record. While many critics felt this record was more aligned with her late work with Helium, the inclusion of more provocative and personal lyrics meshed with the fantastic and ethereal landscape. Timony's repertoire has expanded considerably throughout her musical career, illustrating growth as a musician and songwriter. At the same time, Timony participated in various musical and film projects including the mostly instrumental Green 4 and staring in a short film, "Dream Machine" in which she covered the Gordon Lightfoot song "Pussywillows, Cat-tails."
Timony's modesty certainly hasn't affected critics, though. Prior to the release of The Golden Dove, Ian Svenonius, member of the indie rock band, Make-Up, wrote an article about Mary, praising her ambition as a musician.
"The one thing the Rock 'n Roll industry hasn't been able to replicate is a woman from Boston called Mary Timony. Maybe because her music defies Rock 'n Roll convention in such an unusual and unexpected way, sidestepping blues tropes and usualites in a manner that's not self conscious or contrived but genuinely idiosyncratic; completely natural." Svenonius added, "The music through which she graciously invites you into her own world, where the normal rules don't apply" (Svenonius 1).
In 2004, Timony worked on the songs that would become Ex Hex, her most recent solo album, with drummer Devin Ocampo (of The Medications). Brendan Canty, the drummer of Fugazi, produced the entire record in the legendary D.C. recording studio, Inner Ear. Built around a foundation of guitar and drums, the album's eleven songs are a combination of raw garage tunes with beautiful spiraling musical landscapes all imbued with Timony's signature vocals and lyrics.
Fans adoration for Mary has even spawned a website dedicated entirely to her work with complete lyric sheets, an archive of newspaper and magazine articles she's appeared in, and professional and live performance pictures. The site also includes periodic news updates with rare downloadable material. Mary's home can be found at http://pmoon.zip.net.
Svenonius, Ian. "Golden Dove Bio." 2002. http://marytimony.com/neusite/goldendove_bio.htm