Biography
Mary Timony ranks among indie rock’s most inventive and far-reaching artists, her vocals balancing raw strength with fragility while her guitar lines remain sharply expressive. After her stint in the Washington, D.C. post-punk group Autoclave, the records she made with Helium—including 1995’s The Dirt of Luck—highlighted an explosive yet supple fusion of classical technique, punk attack, and shoegaze textures. The final Helium album, 1997’s The Magic City, carried a fragile, prog-tinged atmosphere that shaped her earliest solo recordings; her 2000 debut Mountains introduced a brooding, mystical tone that anticipated a later wave of similarly inclined songwriters. The tougher approach she explored on 2007’s The Shapes We Make resurfaced in the high-velocity supergroup Wild Flag early in the 2010s and in the bold synthesis of glam, power pop, and punk that defined her trio Ex Hex on 2014’s Rips and 2019’s It’s Real. Her return to solo work with the folk-leaning, reflective 2024 album Untame the Tiger further cemented her standing as a resolutely independent innovator.
Raised in Washington, D.C., Timony began piano lessons in childhood and received her first guitar instruction from her brother. She later took up viola and performed in the jazz ensemble at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts. In 1990 she joined the acclaimed all-female punk band Autoclave as guitarist and co-lead singer; the group issued two EPs on Dischord—Go Far in 1991 and a self-titled release the following year—before splitting in 1991. Timony relocated to Boston, and after earning an English-literature degree from Boston University she joined an early version of Helium in mid-1992, stepping in for Mary Lou Lord. The lineup stabilized around Timony, bassist Brian Dunton, and former Dumptruck drummer Shawn King. Helium first revealed its elliptical yet forceful style on the 1993 singles “The American Jean” and “Hole in the Ground.” Following the 1994 Matador EP Pirate Prude, which delved further into the band’s feminist concerns and abrasive guitars, Ash Bowie of Polvo took over on bass; his debut appearance came on Helium’s first full-length, 1995’s The Dirt of Luck. Later that year the keyboard-driven Superball EP underscored the group’s constantly shifting palette.
During this period Timony also pursued projects outside Helium. She contributed vocals to “All Dressed Up in Dreams” on the 6ths’ 1995 album Wasp’s Nests. In 1996 she sang on Lincoln ’65’s self-titled single for Slow River and formed the alt-rock supergroup Mind Science of the Mind with Shudder to Think bassist Nathan Larson, violinist Joan Wasser (later known as Joan as Police Woman), and drummer Kevin March. In 1997 she appeared in the film All Over Me as the frontwoman of Coochie Pop and performed Helium’s “Hole in the Ground.” That same year the band released the Mitch Easter-produced The Magic City, which signaled a growing interest in the fantastical imagery and textures of prog rock—an interest that carried over to the No Guitars EP. After a U.S. tour supporting the album, Helium disbanded in 1998.
Timony spent the next year recording with assorted collaborators before launching her solo career. In 1999 she and Sleater-Kinney’s Carrie Brownstein released a four-song EP as the Spells; the following year she recorded a six-song demo with Anna Johansson and Erin Maclean under the name Green 4. Her solo debut, Mountains, arrived in March 2000, infusing the mystical leanings of late-period Helium with a darker emotional cast and featuring contributions from Christina Files, Ash Bowie, and Tortoise’s John McEntire. For her May 2002 follow-up, The Golden Dove, she enlisted co-producers Mark Linkous and Alan Weatherhead and adopted a more direct indie-rock approach. Around this time she also began offering guitar lessons. She resumed releasing her own material with April 2005’s Ex Hex, produced by Fugazi’s Brendan Canty and featuring Medications’ Devin Ocampo; issued by Lookout, the album revisited the angular style of her Helium era. After additional collaborations with Team Sleep, King Diamond, and Garland of Hours, she moved to Kill Rock Stars for May 2007’s The Shapes We Make, which delivered an even more streamlined sound and again included Ocampo alongside J. Robbins of Jawbox.
In early 2009 Timony, Jonah Takagi, and Winston Yu formed Pow Wow, later renamed Soft Power after TJ Lipple joined; the band played shows and tracked a handful of songs before dissolving. By May 2010 Timony was performing with Brownstein, Sleater-Kinney drummer Janet Weiss, and Minders keyboardist Rebecca Cole in Wild Flag. The group’s self-titled debut appeared on Merge in September 2011, earning praise for its kinetic songs, though the members’ conflicting schedules led to a split by late 2012.
Timony continued in a similarly propulsive direction with her next endeavor, the garage-rock and power-pop outfit Ex Hex. Joined by Fire Tapes bassist Betsy Wright and Aquarium drummer Laura Harris, the trio signed with Merge in 2013. Working again with Mitch Easter and Jonah Takagi, they issued their October 2014 debut Rips. After nearly two years of touring, the members turned to other projects: Wright formed Bat Fangs, Harris joined Death Valley Girls, and Timony oversaw reissues of Helium’s The Dirt of Luck and The Magic City. Ex Hex resurfaced in March 2019 with It’s Real, a richer-sounding album that featured the Rockman, a compact amplifier designed by Boston’s Tom Scholz in 1982. That August brought the self-titled debut from Timony’s project Hammered Hulls—completed with guitarist Mark Cisneros, drummer Chris Wilson, and vocalist Alec MacKaye—on Dischord. In January 2021 Matador reissued Mountains with additional unreleased tracks.
Timony returned to solo work with February 2024’s Untame the Tiger. Written and tracked across two years that encompassed the end of a relationship and the deaths of both parents, the album merged introspective folk with psych-rock elements and included drummer Dave Mattacks, whose credits encompass Fairport Convention as well as Nick Drake and Brian Eno.
Raised in Washington, D.C., Timony began piano lessons in childhood and received her first guitar instruction from her brother. She later took up viola and performed in the jazz ensemble at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts. In 1990 she joined the acclaimed all-female punk band Autoclave as guitarist and co-lead singer; the group issued two EPs on Dischord—Go Far in 1991 and a self-titled release the following year—before splitting in 1991. Timony relocated to Boston, and after earning an English-literature degree from Boston University she joined an early version of Helium in mid-1992, stepping in for Mary Lou Lord. The lineup stabilized around Timony, bassist Brian Dunton, and former Dumptruck drummer Shawn King. Helium first revealed its elliptical yet forceful style on the 1993 singles “The American Jean” and “Hole in the Ground.” Following the 1994 Matador EP Pirate Prude, which delved further into the band’s feminist concerns and abrasive guitars, Ash Bowie of Polvo took over on bass; his debut appearance came on Helium’s first full-length, 1995’s The Dirt of Luck. Later that year the keyboard-driven Superball EP underscored the group’s constantly shifting palette.
During this period Timony also pursued projects outside Helium. She contributed vocals to “All Dressed Up in Dreams” on the 6ths’ 1995 album Wasp’s Nests. In 1996 she sang on Lincoln ’65’s self-titled single for Slow River and formed the alt-rock supergroup Mind Science of the Mind with Shudder to Think bassist Nathan Larson, violinist Joan Wasser (later known as Joan as Police Woman), and drummer Kevin March. In 1997 she appeared in the film All Over Me as the frontwoman of Coochie Pop and performed Helium’s “Hole in the Ground.” That same year the band released the Mitch Easter-produced The Magic City, which signaled a growing interest in the fantastical imagery and textures of prog rock—an interest that carried over to the No Guitars EP. After a U.S. tour supporting the album, Helium disbanded in 1998.
Timony spent the next year recording with assorted collaborators before launching her solo career. In 1999 she and Sleater-Kinney’s Carrie Brownstein released a four-song EP as the Spells; the following year she recorded a six-song demo with Anna Johansson and Erin Maclean under the name Green 4. Her solo debut, Mountains, arrived in March 2000, infusing the mystical leanings of late-period Helium with a darker emotional cast and featuring contributions from Christina Files, Ash Bowie, and Tortoise’s John McEntire. For her May 2002 follow-up, The Golden Dove, she enlisted co-producers Mark Linkous and Alan Weatherhead and adopted a more direct indie-rock approach. Around this time she also began offering guitar lessons. She resumed releasing her own material with April 2005’s Ex Hex, produced by Fugazi’s Brendan Canty and featuring Medications’ Devin Ocampo; issued by Lookout, the album revisited the angular style of her Helium era. After additional collaborations with Team Sleep, King Diamond, and Garland of Hours, she moved to Kill Rock Stars for May 2007’s The Shapes We Make, which delivered an even more streamlined sound and again included Ocampo alongside J. Robbins of Jawbox.
In early 2009 Timony, Jonah Takagi, and Winston Yu formed Pow Wow, later renamed Soft Power after TJ Lipple joined; the band played shows and tracked a handful of songs before dissolving. By May 2010 Timony was performing with Brownstein, Sleater-Kinney drummer Janet Weiss, and Minders keyboardist Rebecca Cole in Wild Flag. The group’s self-titled debut appeared on Merge in September 2011, earning praise for its kinetic songs, though the members’ conflicting schedules led to a split by late 2012.
Timony continued in a similarly propulsive direction with her next endeavor, the garage-rock and power-pop outfit Ex Hex. Joined by Fire Tapes bassist Betsy Wright and Aquarium drummer Laura Harris, the trio signed with Merge in 2013. Working again with Mitch Easter and Jonah Takagi, they issued their October 2014 debut Rips. After nearly two years of touring, the members turned to other projects: Wright formed Bat Fangs, Harris joined Death Valley Girls, and Timony oversaw reissues of Helium’s The Dirt of Luck and The Magic City. Ex Hex resurfaced in March 2019 with It’s Real, a richer-sounding album that featured the Rockman, a compact amplifier designed by Boston’s Tom Scholz in 1982. That August brought the self-titled debut from Timony’s project Hammered Hulls—completed with guitarist Mark Cisneros, drummer Chris Wilson, and vocalist Alec MacKaye—on Dischord. In January 2021 Matador reissued Mountains with additional unreleased tracks.
Timony returned to solo work with February 2024’s Untame the Tiger. Written and tracked across two years that encompassed the end of a relationship and the deaths of both parents, the album merged introspective folk with psych-rock elements and included drummer Dave Mattacks, whose credits encompass Fairport Convention as well as Nick Drake and Brian Eno.
Albums
Singles
