Folkadelphia Session: Mary Lattimore

Photo by Scott Troyan, courtesy of the artist.
Over the past decade, Mary Lattimore has mesmerized and delighted with her adaptive harp playing abilities, challenging preconceptions of where the many-stringed instrument sits in indie rock, folk, and experimental music. The long-time Philadelphian (though soon-to-be West Coaster [sad emoji]) has pushed and carried her audience, along with her hugely unwieldy instrument, to explore the far reaches of what the harp is capable of doing. What can it do? An awful lot apparently, especially when you add in electronics, sonic manipulation, amplification, a knack for improvising, and an awesome set of collaborators, notably go-to partner-in-crime multi-instrumentalist and producer Jeff Zeigler. I personally try to see Mary as much as possible, and I recommend you follow suit, because her performances always feels entirely special, like experiencing the birth of mini-sonic worlds that all start from the same place, a single pluck of the string.

We previously recorded Mary’s duo with Jeff Zeigler, as well as a trio version featuring guitarist Chris Forsyth. For this session, Mary performed solo, just hands on harp. As of the time of publishing, Mary’s three appearances make her the all-time visitor to our studio – cool! Catch one of Mary Lattimore’s last Philly show as a Philadelphian (although do you ever really stop being a Philadelphian once you are one) at Johnny Brenda’s on Tuesday, August 16th.