In all the years I’ve written for Oregon Music News, I’ve probably used the first person perspective in an article once. But I use it again here because it’s so apt. I was in middle school and going through all the awkwardness and insecurity inherent at that stage of life when Mazzy Star first released She Hangs Brightly in April of 1990 on the now defunct Rough Trade label. My parents had finally separated and it’d become necessary for me to move from a sheltered, disciplinarian private school to a huge public school where kids were snorting meth in the bathroom, chicks were getting pregnant and dropping out, and I was becoming the butt of racial slurs and physical bullying for the first time. As a thin little Middle Eastern girl with huge curly hair and poetic sensibilities, I was struggling to gain a foothold on positive self-identity in the confusing, frustrated madhouses of my home and school.
So when I first heard Hope Sandoval’s voice undulating within the dream pop soundscape of “Free,” and then saw a picture of the petit and unassuming mixed race female who seemed to hide behind her gigantic hair, a powerful sense of resonance and personal influence took root in me. It was a pivotal moment in my life, and the basis of my devotion to non-mainstream music.
Listening to Mazzy Star’s evocative balminess formed my identity, plain and simple. Which is why now, after seventeen years of virtual silence from the band, you can imagine what I went through a little over a week ago when they released Seasons of Your Day (September 24, 2013). My reaction was akin to the easy pleasure of muscle memory. As soon as Sandoval’s willowy voice and light-filled lyrics rolled out alongside David Roback’s celestial folk/psychedelic blues/indie rock musical hybrid, I felt calmed. Stoned, really. Certainly transported back to a life that began around my twelfth birthday, over twenty-three years ago. What a sentimental rush.
Watch the official video for “Fade into You,” which launched Mazzy Star into mainstream view all those years ago:
Click here to view the embedded video.
But enough about me and my walk down memory lane. You’re here for Mazzy Star, so Mazzy Star you will get. In a September 27th article on Pitchfork.com, Mark Richardson describes what I consider to be the crux of the band’s success with his vivid representation of Sandoval’s “hushed, lean-in intimacy and aloof distance” that has always, somehow, struck a perfect balance. Instead of creating an awkward impasse between her presence, lyrics, and voice, Sandoval’s hand-in-hand embrace of disillusionment and faith allows listeners to carve out their own enraptured space within the sheer beauty of her voice and David Roback’s production skills.
Listen to songs off the recently released Seasons of Your Day full length:
Seasons of Your Day
Which is why it’s no wonder that Mazzy Star’s fourth full length studio album shouldn’t give anyone a reason to gripe. In fact, I’d say that the band’s celestial sound is exactly the same as it’s always been, with the added bonus of crisper audio post-production and a little less reverb. Where someone else might see limitations in that sameness, I see hard earned authenticity. Because it’s not easy to maintain such a similar vibe over such a span of time, influence, and experience. And it’s certainly not easy to preserve the same vocal quality over all that distance, but Sandoval’s honeyed voice is still as satisfyingly homegrown and introverted as ever.
Watch the official video for “California,” from Seasons of Your Day:
http://www.vevo.com/watch/mazzy-star/california/USA2P1361660
NPR’s Will Hermes recently wrote about the group’s influence, which “is being echoed by younger artists…Beach House and the mutable glam-pop of Lana Del Rey.” To that list, Matthew Sullivan of The Portland Mercury adds Widowspeak.
Check out Mazzy Star live for yourself on Sunday November 3rd at the Crystal Ballroom, with special guests The Entrance Band and Mariee Sioux. Doors at 8pm, show at 9pm. All ages welcome. $30 advance, $33 day of show.
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