ARTIST: Mary Timony 
TITLE: Mountains
YEAR RELEASED: 2000
CHART ACTION: None
SINGLES: None
OTHER SONGS YOU MAY KNOW: If you were college-radio savvy in 2000, maybe a stray cut or two.
LINEUP: Mary Timony, John McEntire, Ash Bowie
WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT: Helium leader goes solo, and releases a quiet, spooky album that utilizes a lot of piano.
SOME WORDS, PHRASES AND CLAUSES ABOUT THIS RECORD: Helium itself was pretty spooky, but this first solo album by Mary Timony re-defines it. Almost every song is breathlessly lullabied to the listener, and many cuts use piano as the driving force with some other accompaniment. Not many guitar fireworks here.
That’s not to say there isn’t guitar, or that Timony is all quiet here. The prevailing theme and tone of the album is quiet – as you’re listening to this under drawn bed covers.
It’s not something to listen to constantly – even if you like Helium or Ex Hex or Timony in general. But it’s not useless at all.
NOTES & MINUTIAE: The year before, she collaborated with Carrie Brownstein in an album called The Spells.
IS THERE A DELUXE VERSION: No.
GRADE: B: It’s a hushed record – the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, too.
But Is It Any Good? 