IT’S a collaboration to make any lover of ethereal soundscapery’s mouth water.
Last heard of, solo, with her luscious Hundreds of Days set back in 2018, Los Angeleno harpist Mary Lattimore has been busy recording a new album in Cornwall – under the aegis of longtime Kernow resident, Slowdive’s Neil Halstead.
Her new album, Silver Ladders, is due out on October 9th via Ghostly International. There’s a highly limited Dinked edition, containing sheet music, for adorers of the deluxe.
It was to the very toe of the south west of Britain that she travelled to make her latest opus after a chance festival encounter with Neil.
She said: “A friend introduced us because she knew how big of a fan I was and Neil and I had a little chat.
“The next day, I just thought maybe he’d be into producing my next record.” Her instincts were right.
She travelled to Neil’s studio, situated on a disused airfield near Cornwall’s rugged north coast, and put together the new album over the space of nine days.
And she has released an enthralling single, “Sometimes He’s In My Dreams”, in which her harp falls like the gentlest snow over Neil’s guitar figures. It could have been taken from a more rarified, less electronic Pygmalion.
Mary says of the single – which you can listen to below: “It’s a song borne from a long improvisation – it was a section we both liked out of a longer piece.
“After I finished playing, Neil shaped it and looped part of it and then added his dreamy guitar line. What started out as simple meandering solo harp with a ricocheting delay got a little deeper and more fully formed with Neil’s help.
“It’s probably my favourite part of the record because it’s nothing I would’ve thought to do, having made a lot of music on my own in the past. Plus, that guitar!”
The days of autumn suddenly look a whole lot more palatable.
Mary Lattimore’s Silver Ladders is released on October 9th. Order a copy here.
