mary-lattimore-jimmy-v-singles-going-steady
Photo: Scott Troyan

Mary Lattimore – “Jimmy V” (Singles Going Steady)

Absolutely gorgeous and fulfilling postproduction harp music with a VHS eyephoria video as an ecstatic bonus.

Timothy Gabriele: Absolutely gorgeous and fulfilling postproduction harp music with a VHS eyephoria video as an ecstatic bonus. Harp is a naturally evocative instrument, its reliance on overtone and naturally occurring reverberation producing tingly vaporous trails that reinforce the transience of each note, but Lattimore has a mystical way with the effects she lays over her chosen accessory, stretching some passages to ring in persistent nearly cacophonous loops while plunging other notes deep below sea level to bob and weave as the mix persists in a psychedelic swirl of chromatic hues. [9/10]

Chris Ingalls: Everybody’s favorite indie hired gun harpist (not that there are many of those) has created something unique: a New Age sound that also comes off as experimental and a little spooky. The effects give the song an edge and don’t at all sound cheap or gimmicky. It’s a beautiful soundscape that may grow tiresome if there’s a full album of similar tracks, but as a singular piece, it’s glorious and comforting, albeit a little scary. [7/10]

Emmanuel Elone: “Jimmy V” is the musical equivalent of walking through a long, dark hallway. The eerie melody and dead space across the entire track is slightly disturbing, but becomes more mundane as the song drags on. Without a memorable build or shift in instrumentation, “Jimmy V” grows stale fairly fast, and doesn’t justify its long runtime as a result. It’s not a bad song (in fact, it’s beautiful for the most part), but the lack of pace and diversity make it much more tedious than it should have been. [6/10]

Pryor Stroud: In “Jimmy V”, Mary Lattimore’s harp isn’t so much an instrument as a wanderer — a sleep-deprived nomad drifting through Technicolor landscapes of alien vegetation and smoke-filled sky. But, considered as an instrument, this harp is something to behold: plucked delicately, as if sensitive to the touch, spacious, and wistful, it is played with such extemporaneous skill and effortless craftsmanship that it is almost hard to imagine Lattimore with her fingers to the strings. As a whole, the track sounds like an electro-acoustic dreamscape, touched with layers of ambience and flushes of sonic experimentation that conjure up a heaven-world only available to unconscious thought. [7/10]

Chad Miller: The song thrives when it seems to be taking risks or experimenting, but a lot of the time is spent playing it safe. It can be kind of boring as a result, not to mention that the melody was usually pretty uninspiring. [5/10]

SCORE: 6.80