Description
Have you ever heard a harp sound sinister? What about a ring tapping on wood, echoing in your inner ear? These are the unique gifts Mary Lattimore presents. Joining KCRW crew between the record shelves of our DJ lounge, Lattimore plucks out two tunes that build on the power of the green box on her lap: a Line 6 DL4 looper. The ethos is almost like a string quartet: solo becomes duo, duo becomes trio, and so on. The key difference, in effect, is that Lattimore’s harp builds a self-referential web, winding sharp plucks together into warbling harmonies.
Her introduction of extended, non-traditional techniques to the harp adds complexities to the instrument unlike anything you could expect. On the second track, “‘Til a Mermaid Drags You Under,” Lattimore’s frantic, aggressive rapping of knuckles on the piezoelectric harp pick-up fades in a phantom percussion. On both that cut and “On the Day You Saw the Dead Whale,” she expertly uses the looper to blend in reversed harp (can you imagine what that sounds like?). Mary Lattimore, with two maritime-monikered masterpieces, beckons us to a rich pool of music.
Mary Lattimore performs, in order:
00:00 On the Day You Saw the Dead Whale
07:36 ‘Til a Mermaid Drags You Under
Band Credits:
Mary Lattimore, harp
KCRW Credits:
Acoustic Session Creator: Tohar Zamir
KCRW Recording/Mix Engineer: Katie Gilchrest
Camera Operator: Tohar Zamir
Director/Editor: Tohar Zamir
Producer: Adelaide Sandstrom
KCRW Music Director: Alejandro Cohen
Enjoy this session? Support KCRW's mission to share music with the world. Our non-profit radio station in Santa Monica, California has supported musicians and DJs for more than 40 years. Help us continue our music programming by donating whatever you can: https://kcrw.com/give
http://www.kcrw.com
Music | Culture | News | NPR