pirate prude

In the summer of 1990, four ladies in DC formed Autoclave. A year later they had already broken up with one member (Christina Billotte) going on to Slant 6 and Mary Timony going to Helium. In the mid-90s, Helium released a couple of albums and a fistful of EPs and singles on Matador Records. Into the 2000s, Matador also released Mary's first two solo albums, Mountains and the Golden Dove. Now here we are in 2005 and Lookout is Mary's new home and label.

For her new LP, she teamed up with drummer Devin Ocampo (of Dischord's Medications) and producer Brendan Canty aka the drummer for Fugazi. Timony's vocals are as warm and welcoming as ever and any fan of her past work is sure to quickly identify with the new material just as easily. The Washington Post (they are from DC after all) said it well: With spiral-staircase chord progressions and lyrical snippets that evoked mystic spells ... the resulting sound suggested a pool of art-garage rock with withered flowers floating on its surface.

On tour now and soon to be opening for Spoon. Here is the focus track from her new album, Ex Hex and a classic Helium track that I had on constant repeat back in my college radio daze.

Mary Timony - Friend to J.C.
Helium - Superball