Mary Bozana Timony (born October 17, 1970) is an American independent singer-songwriter, guitarist, keyboardist, and violist. She has been a member of the bands Helium, Autoclave and Wild Flag, and currently fronts Ex Hex. Timony's music is often heavy and dark, frequently using drones, beats, and modal melodies reminiscent of European Medieval music. She uses a number of alternate guitar tunings, most prominent of which is DADGAE. Her unique style has been cited as an influence amongst well respected and admired musicians such as Carrie Brownstein of Sleater-Kinney, Sadie Dupuis of Speedy Ortiz and many more. Biography Timony was born to James and Joan Timony of Washington, D.C., and raised in the neighborhoods of Glover Park and Wesley Heights. As a teenager, she attended the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Georgetown where she played guitar in the jazz band and also studied viola. Her guitar teacher Tom Newman recalled to interviewers: “She came to us a prodigy. You can’t teach what she has.” In 1990–91 Timony played guitar and shared lead vocals in the Washington, D.C.-based band Autoclave. She later relocated to Boston, where she graduated from Boston University with a degree in English literature and formed the band Helium in the summer of 1992, recording two albums and three EPs with the group between 1994 and 1997. Helium disbanded in 1998, whereupon Timony embarked on her solo career, recording albums in 2000 and 2002 (Mountains and The Golden Dove). In the mid-2000s, Timony moved back to D.C. In 2005, Timony joined with drummer Devin Ocampo; her album Ex Hex, released on the Lookout! Records label, features the two performing together as a duo. In the same year, she contributed vocals to Team Sleep's self-titled album on the tracks "Tomb of Liegia" and "King Diamond." Her most recent solo album, The Shapes We Make, was released on the Kill Rock Stars label on May 8, 2007. A music video for "Sharp Shooter" was produced by the art collective Paper Rad. In early 2009, Mary Timony formed a new band, Pow Wow, with Jonah R. Takagi and Winston H. Yu. As of June 2009 the group added T. J. Lipple and changed its name to Soft Power. In September 2010, Mary Timony and members of Sleater-Kinney, The Minders, and Quasi announced that they were working on a new album under the moniker Wild Flag. It was released on Merge