Customer Reviews

The Golden Dove

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Mary Timony is amazing.

For those that don't know her, she has fronted a number of bands in the past ten years. Helium and Autoclave being the most notable. I had not heard of her, though, until a friend gave me her first solo album, Mountains. It was love at first listen. And obsession at second listen.

I was expecting her new album, The Golden Dove, to be a disappointment. I saw no way that she could top the Mountains album and I didn't get my hopes up. But she did. Or rather, she didn't.

She managed to make an equally wonderful album that shares similar themes and sounds with Mountains, yet she added new elements to keep from being one of those artists that tries to repeat themselves over and over.

Her lyrics are still fairytales of witchcraft and sorrow, but now there are more satirical jabs at life and relationships thrown in. The metaphors are more clear. The vocals and rhythm are more pronounced. Mountains had an echo to it, which fit with the medieval tone to the album. The Golden Dove hits a more Helium-like vibe while still maintaining Mary's haunting, folkfaerie touch.

Like Mountains, the new album does have certain redundant melodies. But they fit the melancholy, yet hopeful lyrics. Mountains was the witch who needed no one. The Golden Dove seems to realize she might want someone, perhaps she had and lost someone, but she still retains that self-reliance.

Magic, isolation, and companionship are the themes most prominant, along with a somewhat cynical view of the world that is sprinkled throughout the album.

All accompanied with a lot of hand clapping.

I am enchanted by Mary Timony. I find her intoxicatingly talented. And, unlike the litany of artists my freinds always recite that I'm "supposed" to be into (PJ Harvey, Tori Amos, Bjork) Mary doesn't seem at all daunting or distanced, like an unapproachable superstar. She has a wonderful big-sister quality, the kind of person you'd love when she was around and miss when she wasn't. Her casual approach may be her biggest asset. Certainly on her stunning second solo effort "The Golden Dove", this is in ample evidence. On insinuating tracks like "14 Horses" and "The Owl's Escape", she weaves a subtly devestating tapestry of minor-chord meloncholy that takes a few listens to fully register (but, isn't that the case with all good music?). Musical elements that have become her trademark since her Helium days are present here as well: "Musik and Charming Melody" layers strings and complex, inter-locking guitar parts for a beguiling celebration of the mythically uplifting power of music, and "Look A Ghost In The Eye" begins with an oddly heroic arpeggio, then hooks you with an indellable chorus. There's even some of the dirgy, Sonic Youth-ish guitar she used to great effect on "The Dirt Of Luck", Helium's stellar debut. Those of you who enjoy fantastical musical explorations, but are a bit put off by the over-the-top grandiosity of her superstar peers, will find a bracing breath of fresh air with Mary Timony and this great record.

Helium was a great indie-rock band, as distinctive in retrospect as they seemed in the '90s - often juxtaposing a driving beat with oddly lazy, string-bending chords and sleepy vocals by Mary Timony. As a solo artist, Mary has taken the quality of some of the most arresting Helium songs, the ones that were sparse in instrumentation and accompanied by wispy fragile vocals that would break beautifully over the lyrics, and she's expanded it to something far eerier. And far odder.

The music is as tough to describe as it is polarizing to its listeners' opinions. The sound is somewhere between an estrogen-heavy Sonic Youth playing at a mideval shindig, and the musical realization of a teenaged girl's book of poetry on the exact cusp of her transformation from unicorn-loving pixie to death-obsessed goth maiden. This album could be the soundtrack to the world's first cool Dungeons and Dragons game, or the background music to all your pent-up high school pubescent angst.

Will you like it? Who knows? I can only say two things for certain. First, this music is undeniably feminine - mysterious, lovely, spooky and unconvenional. And second, there is absolutely nothing out there that sounds anything like it. It is a language all its own - genre defying, influence defying, history defying. And that is undeniably good. Whether it speaks to you personally or not.

With her constant medieval imagery, sound and lyrics, it seems that Ms. Charming Melodee, the heart-shape faced, sad-eyed Mary Timony was just plain born in the wrong century. (Not many girls in this generation are called 'Mary' either, but I digress.)
'The Golden Dove' sounds more polished, refined and generally more upbeat than her previous solo CD, the rough-edged, melancholy 'Mountains'. The tracks 'Look A Ghost In The Eye' 'and Magic Power' possess ridiculously catchy choruses this time out, definitely a good thing.
Plus, her wispy, slightly lispy vocals are more pronounced than on the Helium albums and EPs, where they were all but buried underneath the Hammond organs and crunching guitars.
If The Magic City was Helium's best, the The Golden Dove is Timony's best solo effort thus far.

The first time I'd ever been exposed to Mary Timony was when I saw her open for Sonic Youth this past summer. Her live show was amazing, so I picked up the CD right away. The CD proved disappointing after seeing her live, but it's not bad. If you ever get the chance to see her live, however, go -- she's wonderful.

This album definitely ranks right up there with Mary Timony's best work. Anyone who likes her previous stuff should like this one, too, and if it doesn't get to you on the first listen (as happened to me), then turn it up loud and you may see it in a different light. For those not familiar with her, you can get a rough idea of this album by imagining Brian Eno and Neil Young getting together in a haunted house to make a breakup album every bit as brilliant, bitter, and bleak as Rosanne Cash's "Interiors." Yikes. Like Neil Young (and Timony is the only person I would dare to describe with that phrase), it's often musically warm and personally prickly at the same time, and it's haunting and gripping throughout. Easily my favorite album of the year so far.

Like all of Timony's previous releases, I wasn't sure of this one at first. The first few listens seemed to be somehow hollow, lacking an indefinable something Mary had previously had, the lyrics maybe a little too juvenile... But as always, i found myself playing it several times a day, and now having listened to it every day for a week or so - I can be sure that Mary Timony still has IT (whatever it is) - very much so!

Having 'grown into' this CD I'm now thinking it might be as great as the previous one, MOUNTAINS. It is beautiful and despite what several reviews have said, I still find her music very very sad. Timony obviously has a fascination with medieval music and imagery, and she combines this in a way that only she can with guitars, strings, references to L.A., and various animals... Listening to certain themes repeat themselves over and over throughout her recordings, it would be fascinating to sit down and talk with Mary about her 'personal mythology'. The lyrics which may initially come across as a bit childish and bad I think are actually well considered - SHE knows why she keeps talking about telephones, LA and ants... The CD quickly gains depth upon repeated listens, at which point you want to listen even more. Another great recording from Mary Timony.

A Vanity Fair review gave this cd an excellent rating. I regret taking their advice. There are perhaps 3 songs that are delightful, the rest is very boring.