Oceanic Consciousness: An Interview with Mary Lattimore

Mary Lattimore is a harpist originally from Philadelphia but currently based in Los Angeles, California who played with The Valerie Project (an alternate soundtrack to the 1970 film Valerie and Her Week of Wonders), has released solo albums At the Dam (2016) and Hundreds of Days (2018), and has collaborated with Meg Baird on the album Ghost Forests (2018). Mary’s music has been described as “immersive, natural world-inspired soundscapes” (Mojo), “an exquisite picture, dramatic worlds that in themselves can evoke vast seas of emotion” (Exclaim), and “a gorgeous immersion in loneliness, solitude, and perseverance” (AllMusic).

Interview by Mark Lager

What experiences first compelled you to experiment with the harp?

I studied classical music in college and then moved to Philadelphia, where a lot of friends played in bands and also played more experimental music. I started to write parts for other people’s records and that kind of morphed into learning to use pedals and improvising.

You and Neil Halstead (of Slowdive) collaborated together on your newest album (Silver Ladders). What is it about his guitar playing that inspires you, and how has your harp playing inspired him?

I’m not sure if my harp playing has really inspired him, but I think it’s just the tone that he has, the personal style, really speaks to me. It really has its own voice, the way he plays guitar. He did say that the way I got the work done very quickly in the studio was inspiring to him, so that was nice. We only had 9 days, so we had to work really efficiently and that time constraint affected everything and felt healthy in a way.

In the description of the Silver Ladders release, it is mentioned that the album sessions happened at Neil Halstead’s studio in Newquay, Cornwall and the titles on two of the tracks (“Til A Mermaid Drags You Under” and “Don’t Look”) contain connections to the coastal landscapes where the two of you recorded.

“Don’t Look” has been described as the “score to a beach-side tragedy.” You mentioned that it was a “stunning beach with big waves” and that Neil Halstead shared a story with you about an attempted rescue of adolescent surfers where “four adults that went in to save them died but the teenagers survived.”

Were “Til A Mermaid Drags You Under” and “Don’t Look” two of the songs that you improvised with Neil? What were the differences in the recording and writing process for you between the songs that you had already composed on your own and the songs that you improvised with Neil?

Yes, these two were improvised, on different days. The songs I improvised at Neil’s were purely stream of consciousness harp concoctions, and he divided them up into songs, shaped them as songs. From my end, they were purely reflections of what I was experiencing going to Cornwall for the first time. With the songs that I had brought from home, those were more crafted with layers and already kind of edited.

Rachael Cassells directed a visual score to accompany Silver Ladders that complements the album’s atmospheric, delicate, ethereal, and haunting soundscapes. The black-and-white images are melancholy and moody – nocturnal portraits of candles and flowers, petals scattered on the sands, and a ghostly figure carrying a lantern while wandering through the darkness by the seashore. The ghostly figure reminds me of the Tarot card The Hermit, 9 is the number of The Hermit, and the album was released on October 9. I might be over-analyzing, yet I am curious: is there a search for the spiritual in the songs of Silver Ladders and/or was that an element that you and Rachael Cassells planned to explore?

Whoa, that’s interesting. I didn’t know that about the Hermit! I think Rachael was exploring it for sure. She was thinking about memorials, memorializing all of the people we’ve lost in this pandemic as well as the dangerous surfing waters. It’s a record very steeped in predicted melancholia, somehow.

The album cover of Silver Ladders shows a dog resting inside a house while a path to the seashore can be glimpsed through the open door and our solar system surrounds the frame. What feelings and meanings are expressed in this album cover?

It’s a painting by my friend Becky Suss, who painted this series from descriptions of children’s/young adult books. This painting is from a description of a book called Cheaper by the Dozen, where the kids in this family play in a lighthouse. For me, the painting feels immediately both cozy and mysterious and insulated from the world. I’ve used her paintings for the past 5 records.

Vinyl Writers is a community dedicated to discussing records that change our lives. What records have been most important in your life?

My favorite record is Disintegration by The Cure, which has been my companion since age 12 or so. I love Eno’s Another Green World and Julianna Barwick’s The Magic Place has brought a lot of beauty into my life. I’ve taken many long walks with the Kinks’ Something Else and Sonic Youth’s EVOL. I have a lot of beautiful solitary memories with Washington Phillips’ comp What Are They Doing In Heaven Today? One of my favorite gifts I ever got was from my friend Jonsi, who gave me the Golden Record box.

How has the coronavirus epidemic affected your creativity and life?

I’m just at home in a half-depressed little zone, waiting it out. I don’t feel very creative but have optimism that we’re gonna get through it.

Thank You so much, Mary.

Thanks for asking me these questions.

Interview by Mark Lager