At the Dam

Album review

Following two solo albums as well as one in collaboration with engineer and multi-instrumentalist Jeff Zeigler, in addition to their joint appearance on the Ghostly Swim 2 compilation, Mary Lattimore makes her full-length Ghostly International debut with the exquisite At the Dam LP. The album showcases her fluid, hypnotic harp playing that is transformed by laptop-generated effects, causing the notes to flutter about and sometimes feel like they're spinning out around the instrument. The album was written and recorded during a cross-country road trip that Lattimore took after she was awarded a fellowship grant by the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, making it a sort of travel journal. Recording songs in the deserts and mountains of California as well as at a friend's house in Marfa, Texas, the five compositions range from sorrowful laments to moonlit meditations, each reflecting a different time and place but maintaining a similar sense of wonder. Opener "Otis Walks Into the Woods" loops and layers a nimble rhythm before dissolving into trippy, otherworldly effects. Other tracks, such as the still, serene "The Quiet at Night," are more fragile and delicate. "Jaxine Drive" adds some drifting guitar to Lattimore's clustering harp notes, setting the freely floating sounds in reverse for the last few minutes of the piece. "Ferris Wheel, January" incorporates rippling echo into its lovely Satie-esque melodies, remaining engrossing for the track's entire 13-minute duration. The album sounds as billowing and ethereal as one would expect from a solo harpist, but Lattimore's sense of experimentation gives her a distinctive sound, and At the Dam is simply a magnificent album.
© Paul Simpson /TiVo