Mary Timony is on the short list of Boston rock n roll legends: and honestly the list is not that long. J Geils and Aerosmith broke ground in the early 70’s, the Cars, Boston and the seminal underrated Mission of Burma held down the late 70’s early 80’s. The list both expanded and thinned in the 80’s with Til Tuesday and the Throwing Muses, and the Pixies leading the pop/punk pack, and some lesser known heavies and punks popping into national attention. The 90’s saw a resurgence of talent with the ska lords Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Letters to Cleo, the Lemonheads, Juliana Hatfield and the inexplicably lesser well known band Helium. Here our tale begins.
Helium was fronted by Mary Timony, and for a trio, they sure made an impression. Mixing deep but fragile girl vocals on top of the eclectic pop/prog mixture of off kilter rhythms, acid tinged fantasy lyrics sprinkled throughout, clanky guitars and piercing synths-they had a unique scifi sound that has to be heard to be believed. Riding a wave in the 90’s that pushed female led quirky bands to the forefront of attention, the were the definition of ‘in the right place at the right time’. Their second and final album in 1997 ‘The Magic City’ is a stone cold classic: timeless in perspective and absolutely brilliant in execution, it appeals across a wide spectrum of tastes. Nearly every song on the album qualifies as a classic- from Vibrations to the mind bending Revolution of Hearts-there are no clunkers. Here is a taste of the album to give you an idea, a song she’s performed on this tour:
The demise of Helium was felt throughout several genre communities-yet another band that called it quits waaaaaay too soon. But Mary had plans.
2000’s Mountains sounds like stripped down Helium demos, sparse yet complete in conception, perhaps some material intended for a never released Helium third lp. Comparisons to Syd Barrett here aren’t too far off. The complexities of the former band laid to bare bones of a song, with emotion on full display, lilting and vulnerable.
The Golden Dove in 2002 and Ex Hex in 2005 followed the trail of ‘less is more’ to perhaps diminishing returns. Mary all but disappeared from the scene for a long while. Then Ex Hex the band was born, an all female trio that toured low key indie locales from 2014 through 2019 and got some attention in larger scenes (Coachella being one). Punky, primal and more energetic, here is a taste of their first album,
Live, they weren’t as together as this video shows, they were much more raw. (read: sloppy at times). Things didn’t seem quite as driven as things were in the 1995-2000 era. Then-we didn’t hear much from her.
One reason is that things maybe weren’t perfect behind the scenes. The blurb on the Drake website for this tour ended on a puzzling note:
“As an artist, you have to keep dealing with your shit. Otherwise, you can’t keep making your art.” —Mary Timony
For more than 30 years, singer-songwriter and guitar hero Mary Timony has cut a distinctive path through the world of independent music, most recently as vocalist and guitarist of acclaimed garage-pop power trio Ex Hex (Merge) but also as a member of seminal post-punk band Autoclave (Dischord), celebrated leader of the deeply influential Helium (Matador), multifaceted solo artist (Matador, Lookout!, Kill Rock Stars), and a co-founder of supergroup Wild Flag (Merge). Described by Sleater-Kinney’s Carrie Brownstein as “Mary Shelley with a guitar” and dubbed “a trailblazer and an innovator” by [Mary’s former guitar student] Lindsey Jordan a.k.a. Snail Mail, Timony has distinguished herself as one of her generation’s most influential guitarists and songwriters. Although she has remained a cult hero and critical favorite since the early ’90s, appearing everywhere from 120 Minutes episodes to Coachella sets, Timony’s many triumphs have long been counterbalanced by crippling doubt and self-nullification.
In a recent interview, Mary allows us into exactly the shit she’s been dealing with. Break up with long term decade long partner, mother and father cancer and passing away all in a very short period of time. Working on her new album, Untame the Tiger, she said was the the only thing keeping her recently shattered life together. The 2024 album is kind of a mix of the many paths she’s trodden upon over the last 35 years. Here is the title track, an elegy of sorts to everything right and wrong in life:
I wasn’t sure what to expect for this show. She’s been out of the loop. I had similar feelings to the first time I saw Roky Erickson in his return to the floorboards-this could be a shitshow, this could be amazing. The results were somewhere in between. First thing, this tour Mary has been delivering frustratingly short sets. Varying from between 10 and 12 songs, her sets tick in at just around an hour.
The crowd seemed to consist mostly of mid to late 90’s indie rock kids, now 30 years older, but still hip. Anyone expecting a career overview would be sorely disappointed, as 8 of the 12 songs were from her new album. Unlike my last time seeing her with Ex Hex, she managed to slip in some Helium songs. Leon’s Space Song and final encore Walk Away from the Magic City and Honeycomb from The Dirt of Luck kept those hoping for a taste of the past happy. The new material was a mixed bag, as the delivery onstage at the beginning of the set had some bumps. Her guitars were just a hair out of tune, straddling the fine line: ‘is this planned or is it really not tuned?’ Her guitar runs had a tightrope feel from time to time as she hit some walls in what some could call ‘under rehearsed’. But the lo fi vibe has been part of her charm throughout, so some foibles added to the evening’s charm. At the first chords of Leon’s Space Song, the energy picked up as the crowd, the band and Mary all ticked up a notch. From here, the next 3 songs seemed tighter. She teasingly asked the crowd at the end ‘do you want one more? Or two more?’ The title track of the new album led into a full workout of the Magic City anchor Walk Away-a song that perhaps covers her past present and future lyrically. Musically? It was heavenly. One by one her band (some long time collaborators) left the stage at roughly one minute intervals: Mary first, then after a bit only the bassist and drummer remained, still playing the precise rhythm of the song, intricate drum patterns interlocked with a formidable bass underpinning. Then….only drums, then…silence. And with that, a short 60 minutes after she hit the stage, it was over.
Here is the show from the night before, same setlist:
Did art imitate life? Some things went wrong tonight some things went right. Mary’s life has had plenty of the same, both rights and wrongs. Was it blow your mind good? No. Did she deliver a hugely entertaining (if short) glimpse into the mind of one of Boston’s finest? Definitely yes. Timony is one for the ages, warts and all. And one of the legends of Boston rock? For real. Go see it while you can.
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