Mary Lattimore + Humming Amps

American harpist Mary Lattimore will perform on 10 March 2024 at Prague’s MeetFactory. Humming Amps will perform as a guest.

Wordless odes to the bittersweet beauty of life’s fleeting moments in the work of American harpist and composer Mary Lattimore are coming back to Prague this March.

Memories and imagination have always filled the artist's captivating sonic universe. On her new LP, Goodbye, Hotel Arkada, Lattimore recounts the inevitability of life's changes, and escapes into the sepia-toned corners of her own memory through the story of the unfortunate fate of the famed Arkada Hotel, located on the Croatian island of Hvar. The shimmering, reverberated harp tones of the album's six pieces are soaked in nostalgia and underscored by the instrumentation of a cast of Mary's collaborators and friends; the sinuous synth surfaces of Lol Tolhurst, former member of The Cure; the hazy drones of guitar experimentalist Roy Montgomery; the accordion melodies of Walt McClements; and the strings of multiinstrumentalist Samara Lubelski.

“When I think of these songs, I think about fading flowers in vases, melted candles, getting older, being on tour and having things change while you're away, not realizing how ephemeral experiences are until they don't happen anymore, fear for a planet we're losing because of greed, an ode to art and music that's really shaped your life that can transport you back in time, longing to maintain sensitivity and to not sink into hollow despondency.”

Opening the night will be Humming Amps, the solo project of Kevin Doria of the bands Growing, Hiss Tracts, Total Life, and Sing Sinck, Sing. Sometimes solo, sometimes trio, sometimes ensemble, Humming Amps was born from a love of hands on vibrating strings amplified through rusty, seizing speakers in empty, tired rooms and kept alive by a stubborn desire to please the unpleasable.

Over the past 20 years, Kevin Doria has released music on Kranky, The Social Registry, Constellation Records, Important Records, and Silver Current Records, amongst others, in collaborative efforts as well as solo ventures.