Mary Lattimore and Walt McClements - Rain on the Road

Mary Lattimore and Walt McClements are two of contemporary music’s most renowned innovators. Each has managed to expand the perception of their instrument’s capabilities.

Lattimore’s inventive harp processing and looping has brought the instrument to a new audience. Her prolific run of celestial solo albums and evocative film scores have redefined the instrument in the modern consciousness. Her genre-agnostic collaborations include work with Kurt Vile, Steve Gunn, Jeff Zeigler, Meg Baird, and Thurston Moore. McClements, who tours as a member of Weyes Blood, is an acclaimed composer in his own right, sculpting glacial atmospherics from the accordion.

The Los Angeles based duo became quick friends on overlapping tours, sharing both a drive to push the sonic possibilities of their instruments and roots in North Carolina.

Mary Lattimore and Walt McClements’ debut collaboration, ‘Rain on the Road’, blossomed out of that time spent on the road together, capturing the liminal existence of touring life in deeply cinematic compositions.

Recorded in the cozy setting of McClements’ apartment during a rainy December in LA, ‘Rain on the Road’ unfurls as a series of sonic vignettes, rolling landscapes hewn from longform improvisations for harp and accordion. Embellished with additional instrumentation such as the shimmering constellations of hand bells on ‘Stolen Bells’ that glisten like lights on wet pavement, or the stately piano figures on ‘The Top of Thomas Street’; their pastoral pieces manage to paint vivid images.

“McClements’ mastery of the accordion comes through in the expansive nature of how he wields it, by turns soft and vulnerable or dense and cerebral.” - Pitchfork

“Lattimore has a way of highlighting the harp’s percussive, melodic, and psychedelic qualities, offering much more than mere angelic eminence.” - Pitchfork

“McClements often channels feelings of genuine wonder into his layers of swirling, overtone-rich chords.” - Pitchfork

Available on CD and LP. LPs include a digital download card.
Available to independent retailers on Opaque Blue coloured vinyl.

Tracklist:

Stolen Bells
The Poppies, the Wild Mustard, the Blue-Eyed Grass
We Waited for the Bears to Leave
Nest of Earrings
The Top of Thomas Street