Mary Edwards

For The Time Being, a sound trilogy, reflects the conflict of desire and uncertainty that seems to simultaneously haunt intimate (if sometimes interim) spaces, each drawing on the relationship we have with temporality, where the anticipation of travel or movement often overshadows the destinantion. It signifies the essence and impermanence of nature and architecture, evoking both absence and presence through sound. Mary Edwards practices what Juhani Pallasmaa calls "Sensuous Minimalism," where a certain neutrality, restraint and silence are an inherent quality of the discipline: "The significance of architecture is not in its material form, but in its capacity to reveal deeper layers of existence".

For the Time Being 1 —in addition to her recent sound compositions, Arctic Cathedral Topographies (Aerial View) and Off Season Fairground —was installed as part of the Exit, Winter exhibition at Gallery 114 in Portland, Oregon, January 2012. (Click titles to listen.)

"...an intriguing and important project which hopes to subversively acknowledge the role of humans in the way architecture functions (or doesn't) in our culture. Mary Edwards hopes to take space back for all of us, not through the seizure of property or the redefinition of place, but though the use of melody and phrasing and multi-aural overlay."
—Katt Lissard

“Not only has Mary built a resonant dialogue among disciplines, she has amassed a body of work bound together by common themes, of the nature and philosophy of space, of the place of home and the power of nostalgia and, of the effects of all of these things on both the fixed and fluid aspects of identity and experience.”
—Daniel Alexander Jones, Alpert Award-winning Playwright

“...quite resonant.”
—Laura Koplewitz, composer

“…Mary Edwards is sensitive to aesthetic spaces. There is a sense of a grand nostalgia, a wonderment of Modernist sensibility and individualism within her compositional subjects...it is this play / investigation between what is grand, spectacular—as in international airports and landscaped woodlands—and the underlying tension of the vulnerable and fragile masked and / or veiled within the sophisticated and minimalist forms that she identifies and manifests an intriguing tension...Mary results in finding and creating spaces between that are intimate, romantic and idyllic."
—Laiwan, multimedia artist/composer


	A Tribute to Joe Raposo Mary Edwards commemorates the late Joe Raposo with her cover of "Everybody Sleeps." Raposo was the prolific composer of nearly every classic '70s and '80s Sesame Street and Electric Company song along with a host of other memorable television themes, film soundtracks and Sinatra tunes. This tribute album (including The Autumn Defense, Orwell and A Girl Called Eddy) is produced by Jonathan Donaldson and will release in 2012. Read more at For Children and Adults Alike: A Tribute to Joe Raposo and Joe Raposo Tribute.

	Soundtrack Music to a Lost Film The Man From Another Place Mary's haunting, cinematic collaborations, "Why" and "The Vicious Cycle" with writer/producer Dan Hirst a.k.a. The Man From another Place are featured on his 2012 release.

	Pretty: The Series Opening Theme Throughout Seasons 2 and 3 of this award-winning mockumentary that spoofs kiddie beauty pageants (Toddlers & Tiaras, Little Miss Perfect) and soap operas, produced by Velvet Candy Entertainment, the show's theme song, "Gumdrop the Unicorn," is covered by a different artist. For Mary Edwards' Season 2 version, she takes her cue from Charles Fox's "Love, American Style"; for her Season 3 version, she gives the farcical theme an instrumental 1980s DALLAS treatment.

	Strange Relations Original Motion Picture Soundtrack ...also, Mary is currently composing a film score for Velvet Candy Entertainment's forthcoming "darkly imaginative" and "hilariously tragic" comedy thriller, set between the 1960s- and present-day California.

	She Sells Seashells Expo Mary's "orchestral pop" collaborations "If There Ever Was" and "Out of the Millions" with writer/producer John Lane are featured on the Expo's 2010 release. "...principally the work of John Lane and friends who it seems has a thing for the craftsmanship of both warmly radiating pristine pop much like the type that appeared on the Beach Boys ’Smile’ ... there’s the absolutely sumptuous lovelorn sweetness of the 70’s styled candy pop ... adept attention to melody and mood..." –losingtoday.com "Anyone that hears your album will be impressed. The youth of today have missed out on the golden era of recording; it looks like your album will bring them up to speed on important and enjoyable music." –Hal Blaine, Wrecking Crew member/Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member/genius drummer on The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds More at Bandcamp

	Console in Rotation WOOL 100.1 FM

Mary Edwards is a composer, multi-instrumentalist and singer/songwriter whose projects range from recordings evocative of epic cinematic soundtracks combined with lyrical intimacy, to installations—sound as a spatial form—that create architecture and cinema for the ear. For her solo releases, she takes her inspiration from '60s film scores and classic pop (to paraphrase Burt Bacharach, "I think in terms of minature movies") to create an indelible, sprawling landscape of sound.

CONSOLE | 2010

DIGITAL

"In another era, Mary Edwards might have been a behind-the-scenes songwriter in the famous Brill Building, that renowned stable of musical artisans that included Goffin & King, Laura Nyro, and a host of others. Instead, in this era, we are lucky to have singer/songwriter Mary Edwards in clear view. Her music is characterized by a smooth charm that draws upon soft-pop, jazz, and funk, framed with a soulful voice that is reminiscent of Dionne Warwick in her prime..."
—Popshifter Magazine

See more reviews:
POPSHIFTER (U.S.)
SONGS AND SONICS (U.S.)
ON FILM (U.S.)
IT'S RAINMAKING TIME (U.S.)

A SMILE IN THE MIND | 2007

CD ONLY

"...evocative of epic 1960s cinematic soundtracks combined with the poetic intimacy of the 1970s singer-songwriter era..."
—Time Out Magazine

"...sensual, sonic architecture..."
—Corinne Drewery, Swing Out Sister