Mary Lattimore & Walt McClements - Rain on the Road (2024) [Official Digital Download]

On this inclement collaborative mini-album, Mary Lattimore teams up with Weyes Blood's Walt McClements, who plays electronically-enhanced accordion against Lattimore's signature looped harp flourishes. Gorgeous stuff - one for fans of the West Coast new age scene, for sure.

When their tours overlapped, Lattimore and McClements became fast friends; both artists are powerfully engaged with not only their particular instruments but their North Carolina roots too. Recorded in McClements' Los Angeles apartment, 'Rain in the Road' captures "the liminal experience of touring life", and blossomed from a series of long improvisations the duo made as they worked out each other's musical language. McClements' accordion style here won't surprise anyone who's heard solo material like 'A Hole in the Fence', but it's a far cry from the folksy stomp of Weyes Blood. Playing through effects, he approaches the accordion much like Lattimore does the harp - the instrument itself is a starting point, and the aesthetic signifiers are often difficult to pick out.

On 'Stolen Bells', they play hand bells alongside brassy, droning synth textures, and Lattimore's harp is blurred into ethereal, high-pitched resonances. The album hits its stride with 'The Poppies…', a lengthy jam that focuses the duo's energy; effervescent and unashamedly romantic, it almost reminds us of Laraaji's work with Brian Eno. The acoustic instruments are still there, but blanketed in reverberant, ecstatic electronics. They fold in environmental recordings and subtle, woody percussion on the moonlit 'Nest of Earrings', and the closing track 'The Top of Thomas Street' adds rhythmic piano tones that cut daintily through the dense, harmonic fog.

Tracklist:
1. Stolen Bells (05:33)
2. The Poppies, the Wild Mustard, the Blue-Eyed Grass (12:44)
3. We Waited for the Bears to Leave (12:11)
4. Nest of Earrings (06:31)
5. The Top of Thomas Street (05:42)


Thanks to the Original customer!