Mary Timony

“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.
Her fifth solo album, Untame the Tiger, approaches these emotions head on. Her first solo
release in 15 years is a startling document of an artist fully coming into her own power during
the fourth decade of her career. It is the product of lessons learned during life-altering struggle.
The mystical, acoustic-driven Untame the Tiger emerged after the dissolution of a long-term
relationship and was bookended by the deaths of Timony’s father and mother. The album was
recorded during a two-year period during which she was the primary caregiver for her ailing
parents. “This was the hardest thing I’ve been through. Every week I had to manage a new
crisis.”
“I started realizing that I gotta control the things that I can,” says Timony, who would write songs
while going on mind-clearing walks and bike rides around her native Washington, DC. “Because I
was making impossible decisions on behalf of my parents, creative choices now seemed more
manageable. Since I had to confront the reality of loss, I realized what was important to me
about being alive, and I became less scared. The record became my anchor in a time when I was
losing so much around me. It felt like all I had—a guide that helped me through, and gave me
hope."
The tectonic psychic shift Mary experienced due to the loss of a long-term relationship and also
of her parents informs many of her lyrics. Standout track “No Thirds” “is a song about losing
everything and having to keep on going,” says Timony. “I wanted the verses to sound like a
wide-open barren space, like driving across a desert, because that is what the song is
about—losing people and the feeling that your future is a giant, wide-open blank space.” The
stripped-back acoustic instrumentation of “The Guest” conjures Sweetheart-era Byrds. Timony
describes it as a song sung directly to loneliness: “I was imagining loneliness as a house guest
who keeps knocking on your door. I thought it would be funny to say loneliness is the only one
who always comes back.”

Untame the Tiger does not eschew Timony’s guitar hero reputation; in fact, “Summer” relishes
in it, a straight-up banger that you’d be half tempted to call “no frills” until its initial garage rock
stomp breaks into the unexpected bliss of a twin guitar solo conclusion. “I wanted the recording
to have the energy of the Kinks, early Dio and Elf, or Rory Gallagher,” she explains. “I was also
listening to a lot of Gerry Rafferty’s first solo album and was inspired to have two simultaneous
guitar solos.” Lead single “Dominoes” is a cynical and funny description of dating the wrong
person, acceptance of it being a disaster, and a reminder of the healing power of music.
Untame the Tiger picks up the thread woven through Timony’s freak-folk-anticipating solo
albums of the early ’00s. Basic tracks were recorded at Studio 606 in Los Angeles, with Timony
backed by Dave Mattacks, drummer of legendary British folk-rock band Fairport Convention.
Mattacks has connections throughout the pastoral, surrealistic world of ’70s folk including
credits on Nick Drake’s Bryter Layter, Steeleye Span’s Hark! The Village Wait, Bert Jansch’s
Moonshine, Richard & Linda Thompson’s Pour Down Like Silver, Brian Eno’s Before and After
Science, and many more.
“Mattacks is a hero of mine and one of my favorite musicians of all time. He is a true legend. I
never in a million years thought he’d agree to play on my record,” says Timony. “Before the
session, I had a panic attack and had to go sit alone in the parking lot... Once we started playing
together, it felt so great that the fear subsided and turned into excitement. His playing felt
instantly familiar, which makes sense because it’s the foundation of many of my favorite
records.”
Untame the Tiger was produced by Mary Timony, Joe Wong (composer on Master of None,
Russian Doll, The Midnight Gospel, Krapopolis, host of The Trap Set podcast), and Dennis Kane.
The album was recorded over the course of two years at Studio 606, Magpie Cage, 38North, and
in Mary’s basement. Additional engineering by J. Robbins (Jawbox, Burning Airlines). Musicians
include Chad Molter (Faraquet, Medications), David Christian (Karen O, Hospitality), and
Brian Betancourt (Cass McCombs, Devendra Banhart, Hospitality). The album was mixed by
Dave Fridmann (MGMT, The Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev), Dennis Kane, and John Agnello
(Dinosaur Jr., Kurt Vile, Waxahatchee).