Mary Lattimore – ‘Goodbye Hotel Arkada’ album review: fractured experimental beauty
Every piece of Mary Lattimore‘s work evokes more of a feeling than any music. Even though more than a few songs jump out because of their melodic counterpoints, the experimental harpist has toyed with her listener’s emotions across every one of her projects, whether through her music or how she constructs her tracks into musical exorcisms. Although Lattimore has carved out a unique place for herself, chipping away at her distinctive sound, Goodbye Hotel Arkada offers a mixed bag from what is expected.
Standing at only six tracks, the album feels like a natural extension of where Lattimore has been for the past few years. Working with Meg Baird again following their collaboration in 2020, they both seemed to have not missed a beat, creating a tapestry of sound that borderlines on shoegaze the more it glosses over.
Lattimore isn’t looking to make the same songs over again, however. Throughout her various collaborations on the project, Lattimore is practically using her different guest stars as instruments on their own. While Lol Tolhurst may not have been as recognisable as he usually is in his track ‘Arevedercci’, his presence is more felt than heard, creating a jarring atmosphere as the instrumental washes over the listener.
Looking to capture the feeling of things changing over time, the music moulds itself into a decent soundtrack to passing years. Even though the changes in the music may be subtle from time to time, it’s only to illustrate the subtle changes happening in anyone’s life without fully realising it.
By the time the audience hears the final strains of voices going on in the finale, it’s almost as if they’re listening back to the ghosts of the past. Although there are wisps of sounds that feel familiar, they are intentionally kept at a distance in the mix, making exquisite use of background voices to create the sense of former friends and family either passing away or moving to other aspects of their lives.
Compared to the other major works in the experimental world, though, Lattimore’s customary take on the genre isn’t going to be for everyone. While many moments stick out as memorable instrumental passages, the album doesn’t necessarily feel like a project that can be picked out for its different individual tracks.
Throughout the album, the music is intended to wash over the listener in just the right way, almost taking cues from the ambient works of Brian Eno with how subtle it can be. It seems that Lattimore had a similar approach to the project, with the album closer ‘Yesterday’s Parties’ ending with the same type of drone that was heard at the album’s start, making the whole project feel like one continuous story.
Even though the album has many standout moments, it reads like the kind of album that works better when put into the background of certain events rather than being listened to on its own. Lattimore’s natural progression on Goodbye Hotel Arkada is certainly worth a spin for anyone mildly curious, but the seeds that Lattimore has planted here feel like she’s building towards something bigger rather than releasing her magnum opus.
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