Larry Sultan’s much praised photo series “The Valley” captures actors in between takes at X-rated-film shoots. The centerpiece of the collection is a stark portrait of porn star Sharon Wild: wearing stilettos and a bra and panties, she perches at the end of a stripped bed with a mussed throw, cradling herself and staring into the distance. Something about the expression on her face, neither defiant nor despairing, resonated with Sally Timms.
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In the World of Him began taking shape when Timms was nearly ten years younger, well before the 1999 release of her last solo record, Cowboy Sally’s Twilight Laments for Lost Buckaroos. Cuts like “Bomb,” by her longtime band the Mekons, and Jon Langford’s “Sentimental Marching Song” appeared in her solo sets in the mid-90s, and during these shows she’d often accompany herself using an old Yamaha QY10 sequencer. “I’ve always liked the idea of having these low-grade electronic toys mixing in with other stuff. And I wanted to make a record like that, an oddball folk record,” she says.
Recorded in three days and released by Bloodshot, Twilight Laments featured a set of quaint country covers. “I was surprised how well the record did,” Timms says. “I thought it was a little throwaway thing. I’m not ashamed of it–but I never listen to it.”
Timms finished up the basic tracking with Dowd last fall, completed vocals at Western Soundlabs and Kingsize studios in Chicago, then went back to Ithaca to finalize the mix. “I spent more time working on this record than anything else I’ve done,” she says.
Timms plans to hit the road in support of the record in November and December. She’ll coheadline the shows with Dowd and his band, who’ll also back her. In the meantime, she already has the concept and cover photo lined up for her next album: “It’s going to be an avant-garde dub record called ‘Great Big Viking Woman,’” she says, grinning. “And the cover photo is going to be me in a Viking outfit and helmet with horns on it. I’ll be a lot more comfortable in that than in my underwear.”
