Mary Timony

American singer-songwriter Mary Timony is back with her fifth studio album, ‘Untame the Tiger’. It is her first solo record in 15 years and, was recorded during a two-year period. After personally dealing with loss, longing and liberation, this album is a masterclass in creating a wholesomely cathartic album. Mary has the ability to process matters deep within her heart in an enthralling and captivating way.

This album is just over 40 minutes and is an absolutely sublime listen. As soon as “No Thirds” kicks in, you’re hooked. Mary’s guitar playing is iconic as well as her vocal delivery. With the highly seductive rock’n’roll sound on “Summer”, you can hear her bring in accessible pop sensibilities on this album. As demonstrated on “Dominoes”, this is an incredibly infectious track which has some of the Dandy Warhol’s mass appeal written into the track. It’s no wonder that it’s one of the lead singles from this album.

“Looking for the Sun” takes us down a psychedelic route and her songwriting here really appeals to the existentialist in me. Followed by the gentle sounding new single, “The Guest”, you can hear Mary singing earnestly against folk guitar with a country twang. I really loved “Don’t Disappear”, which juxtaposes a general lighter sounding album with this darker atmospheric post-punk edge. To me, it captures the sense of the highs and lows throughout the album as some of the writing is dark but the general sound is brighter and positively optimistic.

“The Dream” takes cues from Dylan and the Doors. It has a very mesmerising and hypnotic feel which gives a comforting texture to the album. Then title-track “Untame the Tiger” gives the formidable Dire Straits a run for their money! We have to give credit to Mary and her production team as well. I did notice that the album was mixed by Dave Fridmann and John Agnello, which is why I picked up on little flourishes that reminded me a bit of MGMT. (Dave produced MGMT's "Oracular Spectacular"!)

With “Not the Only One” bringing us back to dreamy indie territory that was all over this album, I feel ‘Untame the Tiger’ is incredibly easy on the ears and should be included on all must-listen-to album lists this year.

‘Untame the Tiger’ will be released on 23rd February 2024 by Merge Records.

Tracklist:
1. No Thirds
2. Summer
3. Dominoes
4. Looking for the Sun
5. The Guest
6. Don't Disappear
7. The Dream
8. Untame the Tiger
9. Not the Only One

5/5