- A wordless ode to the bittersweet beauty of life's fleeting moments from the American harpist and composer.
- In recent years, Stari Grad, a historic seaside town on the northern side of the Croatian island of Hvar, has served as a wellspring of inspiration for Mary Lattimore. On 2020's Silver Ladders, the celebrated American harpist and composer pulled from memories of silver ladders descending into azure waters, rendering them as impressionistic dreamscapes. During the afterglow of the album, she embarked on a two-year process of recording and editing that led to her spellbinding new LP, Goodbye, Hotel Arkada, a collection of six immersive pieces that feel mournful and celebratory in equal measure.
Over the last decade, Lattimore has used improvisation and composition as tools to capture and share her memories of life's fleeting moments. In naming Goodbye, Hotel Arkada, she returned to her sepia-toned recollections of Stari Grad's terracotta roofs, cobblestone pavements and beaches, zoning in on a day spent drifting through the lobby and empty ballrooms of an old-time hotel on the cusp of modernised renovation. There, she found a symbolic stand-in for well-worn beauty, decay and the inevitability of change.
In a similar manner to a visual artist attaching title cards to their works in a gallery show, Lattimore has often explicitly spelled out the stories behind her instrumental pieces, providing a conceptual framing for her lyrical harp-playing and the ambient mélange of sounds and effects she surrounds it with. On Goodbye, Hotel Arkada, she continues to share in this manner while working with the most impressive cast of collaborators she's gathered to date.
The album begins with "And Then He Wrapped His Arms Around Me," featuring two of her close friends, singer-songwriter Meg Baird and the accordionist and composer Walt McClements. Lattimore's harp notes flicker like sunlight on water, skipping over a shifting bed of omnichord, accordion and occasional passages of wordless hums from Baird. As enveloping as its inspiration—her fading childhood memory of a hug from Sesame Street star Big Bird—the piece is a warm welcome into her latest work.
Up next, "Arrivederci" finds Lattimore playing in dialogue with sinuous synthesiser parts provided by former The Cure keyboardist Lol Tolhurst. In a similar mode to "And Then He Wrapped His Arms Around Me," there's a physically pleasurable balance of lightness and heft at work here. This contrast continues across Goodbye, Hotel Arkada, finding a hazy but beautiful peak on "Blender In A Blender," her soaring collaboration with the cult New Zealand guitar abstractionist Roy Montgomery. The backstory here: the title was born from a viral trend where teenagers were destroying their smartphones inside smoothie blenders, and Lattimore and a friend landed on the idea of blending a blender inside a blender.
Although Goodbye, Hotel Arkada is a mostly beatless affair, on "Horses, Glossy On The Hill," Lattimore introduces galloping percussion into her sparkling soundworld. From there, she brings things to a sunset finish with the Julee Cruise-inspired "Yesterday's Parties," where Slowdive member Rachel Goswell sings a breathless vocalisation over Lattimore's delicate fingerwork and violin provided by Samara Lubelski.
Since Lattimore released her first solo album, The Withdrawing Room, in 2013, her expansive, long-form solo pieces and collaborations have become incrementally refined, growing from improvised harp expression into reflective and enveloping ambient music in the same traditions as Brian Eno, Pauline Oliveros, and Harold Budd. Across Goodbye, Hotel Arkada, she continues to craft poignant work that tints the atmosphere, transporting the listener to the remembrances and moments of imagination that float freely within the mind's eye.
Tracklist01. And Then He Wrapped His Wings Around Me feat. Meg Baird & Walt McClements
02. Arrivedercia feat. Lol Tolhurst
03. Blender In A Blender feat. Roy Montgomery
04. Music For Applying Shimmering Eye Shadow
05. Horses, Glossy On The Hill
06. Yesterday's Parties feat. Rachel Goswell & Samara Lubelski