Last month, Los Angeles-based harpist Mary Lattimore released her album Collected Pieces II. The album is available on Bandcamp and Ghostly as a cassette and digital release. We asked Lattimore to share more about her project.
Tell us how Collected Pieces II differs from your 2020 studio album Silver Ladders.
Collected Pieces II is a compilation of unreleased tracks that were recorded in different places, home recordings from different slices of life over the past five or so years. I think it’s a little more raw and improvised than Silver Ladders.
What is your artistic process for recording, looping, and layering your music?
I usually come up with an arpeggio or repeating figure, loop it, then figure out a melody to go on top. Either that, kind of structured improvisation, or I just hit record and play from the heart and see what happens. It feels like cooking or something—an experiment with some happy accidents, usually.
Your tracks often have titles that suggest a storyline. How does narrative play a role in your music?
I generally have a story or mood or memory I’m thinking of when making music, a little movie in my mind. Since there are no lyrics, it’s fun to try to help convey some intent through a title, a single line, while also letting listeners interpret the music in their own way too.
Do you have any other upcoming projects?
I’m scoring a film now, a doc about a young female skateboarder who just went to the Olympics. Next year, I’ll have a duo record with guitarist Paul Sukeena out on Three Lobed Recordings.
Check out Harp Column’s cover interview with Lattimore in our July/August 2020 issue.
