The Golden Dove
As the singer for Boston'sHelium, cherub-faced Mary Timony was responsible for creating some of the most idiosyncratic indie rock the fertile '90s had to offer. Critics couldn't decide whether to call it noise pop, neo-prog or just plain weird. As a solo artist Timony has only grown more indulgent, first with 2000's spookfestMountainsand now withThe Golden Dove, on which she orchestrates intense gothic dirges and songs about fairies, ghosts, and other such chimera. It takes a tolerant ear, to be sure, but the sluggish tempos and oblique lyrics have an unexpected, unusual charm. And "Ant's Dance" and "Musik and Charming Melodee" rate as some of Timony's finest--and most listenable, natch--work yet.--Aidin Vaziri