Benjamin Button’s case was curious because he aged backwards. The case of Mary Timony is curious for almost the opposite reason: unlike many bands and songwriters, who do their best work in their 20s, Timony has done most of her best work in her 30s, 40s, and 50s. In fact, with this year’s solo album, Tame the Tiger, Timony has cemented her place as one of the great songwriters out of Washington, D.C. ever, up there with the guys in Fugazi, Nils Lofgren/Grin, and the rest of the best.
She has recorded 11 albums in the last 30 years: three as Helium in the 90s, five as Mary Timony or The Mary Timony Band, two as Ex Hex, and one as Wild Flag. My three favorite are three out of the last four: the eponymous Wild Flag (2011), the first Ex Hex, Rips (2014), and Tame the Tiger.
This isn’t to say that I don’t like two or three of Timony’s earlier albums almost as much as those three. Just that Timony has kept refining and perfecting her songwriting and musicianship until she became excellent. If you’ve seen the final episode of the latest season of “The Bear,” you know that this idea can apply to chefs as well. Greatness doesn’t always happen right out of the gate the way it did for the Beatles, Talking Heads, Steely Dan, the Clash, the Ramones, and others. But even McCartney will tell you that the Beatles had already put in their 10,000 hours in Hamburg before the recording of their first album.
The first album of Timony’s chronologically that I would recommend is Helium’s final album, The Magic City (1997). Check out the first four songs, “Lady of the Fire,” and “Devil’s Tear.” The album only suffers in comparison to Sleater-Kinney’s Dig Me Out and Tanya Donelly’s Lovesongs for Underdogs, both from that same year. Still, Helium were on the Matador label, whose Gerard Cosloy had the best ears in indie rock: he discovered Dinosaur Jr while running Homestead in the 80s and signed Pavement, Liz Phair, Teenage Fanclub, and Guided by Voices while at Matador. The point is, Timony was in good company.
Her first solo album, Mountains (2000), was a big departure from the sound of Helium, with a lot of restless experimentation. Check out “The Bell” and “The Golden Fruit”, which are probably my two favorites. Timony is a multi-instrumentalist (guitar, bass, keyboards, and violist), and you can hear what a talented musician she is on these songs, not to mention an original lyricist.
Two years later, she dropped The Golden Dove, which feels more like a logical progression from what she was doing with Helium, especially “Look a Ghost in the Eye” and “Blood Tree.” But the highlight for me is the four and a half minute “Musik and Charming Melodee.” After a multi-part ninety second instrumental intro, the song becomes a catchy alt-pop gem complete with handclaps, electric guitar, and viola.
Timony’s next incremental leap forward is her 2005 solo album called Ex Hex, not to be confused with her band Ex Hex a decade later. Think Sleater-Kinney without the caterwauling. Great stuff.
The Mary Timony Band album, The Shapes We Make (2007) opens with “The Sharpshooter,” which feels like it could have been a hit in the 90s with the right music video.
But it’s the 2011 Wild Flag album that I would recommend to anyone who loves rock ‘n’ roll. In fairness, Wild Flag was something of a supergroup in which Mary Timony partnered with two thirds of Sleater-Kinney to deliver the most commercial sounding album any of them ever made. Had it been released in the 90s, I feel morally certain it would have gone gold or platinum. In the wasteland of 2010s rock, it felt like Who’s Next or Led Zepellin IV. Try “Romance,” “Boom,” “Electric Band,” and “Racehorse” for starters. This is a great example of the right album at the wrong time.
And the same can be said of Ex Hex’s debut album, Rips. But that album was all Timony as part of power trio and very different than the Wild Flag. Unlike the 90s indie rock throwback vibe of that album, Timony was writing the kind of garage rock and power pop that inspired her in the late 70s and early 80s. Think Joan Jett, Cheap Trick, the Cars, Tom Petty and others. To their credit, Pitchfork rated the album an 8.4, which is the equivalent of a four and a half or five star rating in Rolling Stone. It’s unbelievably cool and fun and proof positive that Timony can write almost any kind of rock song if she wants to. Some of her earlier work even has prog rock elements. Try “Don’t Wanna Lose,” “Waterfall,’ “Hot and Cold,” and “Radio On” for starters.
While the second Ex Hex, It’s Real (2019), was a case of diminishing returns on the concept, the opener “Tough Enough” is up there with anything on the first album. Other highlights include “Cosmic Cave” and “Radiate.”
Five years would pass between that album and her latest solo album, which is one of the three best albums of her career IMHO. It has some of her most expressive guitar work on songs like “Dominoes,” “Looking for the Sun,” “The Guest” and the sprawling title track. Not bad for a 53 year old with nothing left to prove.
I like the second Ex Hex album more than you, it seems, but it's hard to argue with your overall thesis. Untame the Tiger is great.
Part of what I love about the first Ex Hex is how short and fast and fun the songs are. I like the second Ex Hex too, but the songs are almost all a minute longer. I think that's my only issue with it.