Albums by this artist

The Golden Dove (2002)

Mountains (2000)

Mary Timony

Mountains

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» JEN APPEL | STAFF WRITER

Mary Timony Mountains Matador, 2000 RiYL: Helium, Cat Power, Tara Jane O'Neil, Babe The Blue Ox

Welcome to the world of Mary Timony, a land where trees scream out names, horses rest on top of your head, and the moon radiates the basic elements of life: love, sadness, right and wrong. All of this and more is found while scaling the Helium frontwoman's Mountains, a collection of 15 otherwordly songs that pick up where Helium's 1997 release The Magic City left off.

Mountains sounds like a Helium album only by merit of the guitar and Timony's vocals. Other than that, the sound is purely Timony's own, utilizing a variety of instruments and sounds to enhance her fantasy tales. The record opens with "The Dungeon Dance," a cute piano ditty with the quizzical chorus "it's raining poison rain on me." "The Dungeon Dance" is one of just a handful of piano-based songs here, including the easy-swinging "I Fire Myself" and a remake of the instrumental "Bees" (from Helium's No Guitars album) with lyrics.

While Timony proves herself a capable pianist, it is her guitar work that shines best on this album, recalling early Pirate Prude-era Helium on songs like "The Valley of 1,000 Perfumes," "Rider On The Stormy Sea" and "The Bell," which richochets with one of the most dazzling guitar lines of Timony's career. All three songs are anchored by the perfect, sparse drumming of the Swirlies' Christina Files (who plays on most of the record), and provide a nice bridge between Timony's lyrical mysticism and musical intensity.

Most impressive is the gorgeous melody of "The Hour Glass," played by Timony on the viola (who knew!?). The lingering piano line that slips in between the strings of her viola helps create an aura of sadness, perfectly accentuated by words like "I've given you my last bowl of understanding / to watch it speared like a carcass on a knife."

Not every song is as touching. At 15 tracks, one wonders if the record may just be too long, especially with the Wurlitzer-driven "1592," or the drum-machine fired "The Golden Fruit," which begins smashingly but evaporates into a fairy mist of repetition.

But all in all, Mountains is a lovely record, especially for the insatiable Helium fan waiting for their next release. The album is full of skyward guitar musings and lyrics capable of lifting the listener into a rich, magical world found only after a trek over the mountain's top.

JEN APPEL |