On Mary Timony’s second solo album, there are several traces of Helium’s The Magic City. The landmark finale from her previous band captured both medieval and futuristic flavors through vintage instrumentation and fantasy images of “rainbow dragons” and “freaks in the Milky Way.” Like The Magic City, The Golden Dove uses cello, brass, prog-rock organs and ancient-sounding guitars to create this atmosphere, along with mythical lyrics like “Music of the spheres/uncover the dust of ancient years” and “The only boy I ever loved turned into a Golden Dove.” But ultimately the “Golden Dove…moved to California,” which suggests Mary may be coming back to Earth and modern times. Unfortunately for her, the present is a place where she has increasing despair for relationships. So she occasionally emerges from behind her folklore mask to offer a decidedly more concrete lyric like “You showed me pictures of your ex-girlfriend on the beach without her shirt on, and it made me sick.” But this line is delivered in one of the poppiest hooks she’s ever written. And there lies the main difference between Mountains (her first solo album) and The Golden Dove. The sparsely-arranged gloom of a couple years ago has largely been ditched in favor of the more upbeat and fuller sounds of The Magic City. It’s hardly as consistent as the Helium classic, but the unique moods and thoughts she conjures are always worth your time.

- Dave Powers
(As posted 5/20/02 on 3wk.com)