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at a glance...
Hometown: Berkeley/Los Angeles, California
Formed: 1989
Members:
Hope Sandoval - vocals, harmonica, percussion, and guitar
Dave Roback - guitar, keyboard, etc.
Sylvia Gomez - Backing vocals, percussion
Keith Mitchell - Drums
Suki Ewers - bass
William Cooper - strings, keyboards, bass guitar, etc.
Paul Olgum
Bands in the family :
Opal, Kendra Smith, Dream Syndicate, Jesus and Mary Chain, The Chemical Brothers
Notes:
Dave Roback and his brother Steve were originally in Rain Parade, but Dave left the band and formed Opal with ex-Dream Syndicate bassist Kendra Smith in the mid 1980's. During an American tour with the Jesus and Mary Chain, Smith left Opal and Hope Sandoval of the duo Going Home was asked to take her place. After the European leg of the tour, Roback disbanded Opal and formed Mazzy Star with Sandoval. Ex-Clay Allison drummer Keith Mitchell was brought on board along with Sandoval's partner in Going Home, Sylvia Gomez. For the band's debut, Suki Ewers, William Cooper and Paul Olgum were also employed. Mazzy Star's first album She Hangs Brightly was released on the Rough Trade label. After Rough Trade folded in 1991, Capitol Records signed Mazzy Star and the first album was reissued. In 1993 So Tonight That I Might See appeared and the song "Fade Into You" made it into the US Top 40. In 1996, Among My Swan met with less than stellar reviews. The group has remained close to the Jesus and Mary Chain; Sandoval has dated William Reid and guested on several JAMC songs. She also lent her vocals to The Chemical Brothers' "Asleep From Days."
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Mazzy Star
She Hangs Brightly
Rough Trade/Capitol, Released 1990
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After listening to this album, my friend from Alabama said the band sounds like they are from New Orleans. My psychedelic-influenced mother said they have a lot of potential, and another friend of mine cried. At a show I attended in San Francisco, a man near me commented to no one in particular that he wanted to marry Hope Sandoval. Another guy turned around, gave him a smile, and nodded his head in agreement.
Mazzy Star weave smoky atmospherics, bluesy lyrics, simple chords, sentimental tunes, and Sandoval's sexy, haunting voice into a sound as solid as steel and as pretty as Victorian iron-work. That sound hit its peak on She Hangs Brightly.
Dave Roback's guitar work hangs and bends in swirling harmony to match the mood of Sandoval's lyrics, while her voice is a tempestuous beacon in a haze of emotions. If the sound is understated, this only serves to highlight the emotional currents swirling below the surface.
The opening track is the album's signature: "Hallah," is about the end of a relationship and watching your lover walk away. The lyrics are sentimental and pleading, but realistic enough to avoid triteness. "Maybe you hold me to blame for all the reasons that you left, but close my eyes and I see your surprise and you're leaving, before my time, baby won't you change your mind." As a whole the album works as a love song, broken into tracks representing love's constituent parts: commitment, desire, jealousy, contentment, and the urge to remain independent.
Criticized as emotionally distant by many critics, Sandoval proves herself to be an honest songwriter here. Her sing-speak delivery and Roback's mellow slide-guitar are not so much obtuse affectations as windows inside of the band's mind: emotion devoid of histrionics.
If you like Mazzy Star, check out:
The Velvet Underground The Velvet Underground and Nico
Acetone Acetone
The Jesus and Mary Chain Stoned and Dethroned
REM Green
-- Sean Neumann
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