The Golden Dove May 21, 2002

Mary Timony’s latest solo project, The Golden Dove, lends a refreshing twist to traditional song structures, exploring sound and composition in her own inimitable style. Musically, Timony mixes up 60s psych folk, experimental electro grooves and lengthy prog-rock guitar jams. What results is music of melancholy beauty, sweetness tinged with darkness, conjuring images of middle earth, fairies, goblins and ghosts that lurk in every corner. Sparklehorse’s lauded frontman, Mark Linkous, contributes both on the production credits and as a guest musician. However, most of the music is performed by Mary herself, a virtuoso guitarist and self-styled icon.

Emerging in the early 90s, Timony and her band Helium garnered critical acclaim with their two Matador albums The Dirt of Luck and 1997’s Magic City. Prior to Helium, she was a member of the band Autoclave (Discord). She’s also currently involved with the space-rock band Green 4 as well as Spells, a collaboration with Sleater-Kinney’s Carrie Brownstein. The Golden Dove is Mary Timony’s second solo album, following Mountains. A video for the track "Dr Cat," directed by Brett Vapnek, will be available soon.

Mountains March 7, 2000

"The Magic City is a heady brew, resembling a rock ’n’ roll Paul’s Boutique in its kaleidoscopic majesty." — Matt Diehl, Interview

On 1997’s The Magic City, Mary Timony took a courageous leap forward with her band Helium, unveiling an unusual new wave-prog rock hybrid which spurred comparisons to such diverse artists as Faust, Pentangle, Gentle Giant, and The Cars. Her solo debut Mountains exposes Timonyıs most fascinating music yet. At times augmenting her bizarre guitar work with piano, harpsichord, and viola, she gives her expansive surreal musings a surprisingly stark musical forum, with a certain punk nihilism and carnal knowledge that would have shocked her Renaissance forebears.

Mary calls the record "A Trip To The New Underworld." She offers: "For those of you who have come across the underground river of despair in your travels, do not stand and gawk, but turn away, lest your eyes be burnt out; for those of you who have lived near its banks, know that there are other pilgrims whose ships have sailed in its darkness... Welcome to this record. It was made in a loft in Chinatown, Boston, during the middle of summer, after 10 and before 7, by Country Life the vegan restaurant, near 12 Starbucks, 10 Dunkin Donuts, and 9 Supersalads, by a family of nesting pigeons, high above wailing buses, rush hour, men in convertibles getting shot with spitballs from the sky, business ladies in sneakers, an art gallery full of grass. It was made above the rooms of two drummers, and beside four different bands, it was made in the echoing hallway by the broken elevator, the living room, the bedroom with the blue floor, on the fire escape, above the parking los, below the skyscrapers, during heat waves, on the way to Chicago, in a rented white Jaguar, across from the hoodlum-kid hangout, next door to Sal, until 4 in the morning.