#mary lattimore

[nofatclips-home]

Perpetual Adoration by Julianna Barwick & Mary Lattimore, live on KEXP

[feignedremote]

Mary Lattimore (a cool experimental musician) posted these photos from giving André 3000 a harp lesson... peace and love on planet earth 💖

[specialagentartemis]

February and March Music Roundups

As a New Years resolution I decided to expand my music taste and listen to a new album every week. I've been posting weekly updates with my Weekly Weblogs on Pillowfort but I think I'll post some monthly roundups here too!

February

Theme: Black artists

NSFW by The Paradox - a new pop-punk band singing about traditional topics like angst, bad life decisions, relationships, and breakups that sounds straight out of the mid-2000s, which I mean both positively (I am a huge fan of mid-2000s pop-punk, I love this sound and energy) and negatively (do we have to still be laying so much bitterness and blame on exes, especially for having been promiscuous?) Strongly evocative of Blink-182, one of the band members of which they collaborated with on one of the songs. Despite the name, the only thing really NSFW about it is a few swearwords—topics like sex, drugs, and alcohol are definitely there, but overall presented in a fairly traditional way. It’s not doing a whole lot new with the genre, but the music is fun and catchy and energetic and entertaining in a very classic pop-punk way.

Laughter in Summer by Beverly and Elizabeth Glenn-Copeland. Released this month. Beverly Glenn-Copeland is a trans man, was one of the first Black students at McGill University, has been an activist and folk/jazz musician who got involved in activism, music, and new agey stuff in the 70s. Now 82 years old and fighting dementia, Laughter in Summer was co-produced with his wife. Wistful and gentle, primarily one or two voices singing along to piano music, you can hear the New Age, Classical, and subtle jazz influences. 

The King by Anjimile. I really love Anjimile's first album, Giver Taker, and while his second album was definitely good I didn't love it the same way - I prefer the mellow, sad, contemplative, soulful feeling of Giver Taker.  The King is bolder, bigger, more passionate, more bitter, more intensely instrumented, and I think I need to listen to it again to appreciate it on its own merits rather than expecting more of Giver Taker again. Anjimile is Black and nonbinary transmasculine and that definitely informs the feelings of both albums in different ways - Giver Taker more about personal journeys and introspection, The King a much angrier response to the upheavals of 2020 and being Black and trans in America. He has another album coming out in March I'm looking forward to, too.

Ride, Daybreak, and Sojourner by Immortal Girlfriend. Looking for a new synthwave/retrowave album to write my dissertation to, and I picked Immortal Girlfriend somewhat arbitrarily from a list of Black synthwave artists because I thought they'd be women. They aren't, they're two brothers. Enjoyable synth, melodic and retro in feel, more grooving than intense beats.

March

Theme: Female artists

Fasiya by Sona Jobarteh. I like her earlier album Bandinyaa Kumoo a lot, and Fasiya was... kind of more of the same, admittedly. I listen to Bandinyaa Kumoo to fall asleep to a lot, so I'm probably just more familiar with it and more fond of it. Fasiya is soothing and lovely to listen to, and Jobarteh's voice is beautiful.

Tragic Magic by Julianna Barwick and Mary Lattimore. Orchestral and ambient, it fills the space and is calming and contemplative. I listened to it as background music when Dissertation Writing.

Sanctuary by Tilly Tjala Thomas, her EP, as well as her single "Ngana Nyunyi." Tilly Tjala Thomas blends the breathy-girl pop singer sound with indie songwriting and electronic beats. There's a lot about her music that reminds me of what I like about CHVRCHES (still obsessed with, still listening to constantly, lol). Thomas is Nukunu Aboriginal Australian, and incorporates the Nukunu language into my two favorite songs of hers, "Ngana Nyunyi" and "Ngai Yulku Nhiina." I read a few articles about her use of the Nukunu language in her songs here and here.

Reyna Tropical, the eponymous EP by the duo Reyna Tropical. This is one of the artists I found recommended on @elexuscal 's recommendation request post. Spanish language, DJ effects, bouncy Latin beats, pretty vocals. Not really my genre of choice but I was grooving to it.

[dustedmagazine]

Julianna Barwick & Mary Lattimore — Tragic Magic (InFiné)

Photo by Rachael Cassells

Longstanding friends, tourmates, and creative bedfellows Mary Lattimore and Julianna Barwick seem so simpatico in emotional and sonic terms that it’s a bit surprising to realize this is their first full-length collaboration. The former’s harp and latter’s looped vocals and synth tones both often get tagged as “ethereal,” “cosmic,” even “angelic.” And from the opening notes of “Perpetual Adoration,” it will come as no surprise to fans of both that they blend so seamlessly and beautifully together. And yet there winds up being even more to Tragic Magic than those opening minutes (as gorgeous as they are) might lead you to expect.

For one thing, it’s not incidental that the LP is being released on French label InFiné. This is the latest in a series of records that the label and the Philharmonie de Paris created to highlight the extraordinary collection of vintage and rare instruments at the Musée de la Musique. For the nine days it took Barwick & Lattimore to record these songs, they had access to the collection, and used those instruments exclusively. Lattimore plays four different harps, dating from 1728-1900, and Barwick plays two analog synthesizers from 1975 and 1982 (the Bandcamp page has more detailed credits for gear nerds and anyone else curious). “The Four Sleeping Princesses” that give the second track here its name are those four harps, given an astounding showcase. The rarity and age of the instruments used might not be apparent to most listeners on first listen, but they do show up in a sense. The focus and reverence displayed in composition and performance speak of skilled craftswomen fully aware of the significance of their tools.

And while most of the album are originals by the duo, two tracks come from outside sources. Given that they arrived in France from an LA recently hit by wildfires, it’s especially poignant to learn that the field recording that opens their cover of Vangelis’s “Rachel’s Song” from Blade Runner is of the first rain after the end of the fires. And the brief, bewitching “Temple of the Winds” was written for them by Roger Eno after conversation over lunch. Again, both contributions meld smoothly into this body of work. Even when they introduce a steady kosmiche pulse most of the way into the synth-heavy “Stardust,” it fits right in. Although there’s an almost miraculous unity of feeling throughout, examining the disparate compositions and trying to hang an easy descriptor off of all of them winds up being a perplexing task. “Orchestral ambient psychedelia” might cover the broadest part of it, but there’s still something missing, something more than the sum of labels.

However singular or slightly uncanny their work together seems, one thing that’s much less mysterious is just how good it sounds. Whether it’s the stately shimmer of “Haze With No Haze” or the way the steady twinkle of the closing “Melted Moon” shifts into something more elegiac as Barwick’s vocals kick in, Tragic Magic sees both her and Lattimore working at the top of their respective games, the surroundings and partnership clearly inspiring them. This is an LP that is immediately, ingratiatingly appealing while still having significant depths to plumb. It is one of the prettiest things you’re likely to hear all year, but also one of the most edifying.

Ian Mathers

[garadinervi]

Sarah Neufeld, Richard Reed Parry, Rebecca Foon, Mary Lattimore, Rosa Canina (Mary Lattimore Rework), (Digital album), 2025

[mon-nid]

[bandcampsnoop]

3/24/26.

It's been several years since we've heard from Gun Outfit. In fact, I think the last time may have been the great LP released through Joyful Noise Recordings' Curator Series. The curator? None other than Mary Lattimore.

Recorded in Pine Flat, California (northeast of Bakersfield), "Process and Reality" is a 2 LP behemoth that enlists the help of many including Chris Cohen, Warren Lee, and Danny Sasaki. The band originally formed in Olympia in the mid 2000s and now call Los Angeles home. They've released LPs via many labels over the years and now Upset the Rhythm (UK) will release this.

When I looked up the band on Discogs, the info strip along the top stated that the band honed influences from bands like Dinosaur Jr., and Meat Puppets. This will be the third outright post for the band (first since 2019). Other bands I referenced in earlier posts were War on Drugs, The Cairo Gang, Eleventh Dream Day, and Soldiers of Fortune. I never mentioned Dinosaur Jr., or Meat Puppets.

There's only one song currently streaming from "Process and Reality", but its a winner and more in line with Chris Cohen/War on Drugs than anything harder.

[nofatclips]

Falling Apart by Great Lake Swimmers b/w The Talking Wind [Alternate Links: BandCamp - Spotify - YouTube]