Mazzy Star: She Hangs Brightly 1990 + Seasons Of Your Day 2013

 

Dark Psychedelic Rock dreams from California.
Mazzy Star is an American alternative rock band formed in Santa Monica, California from remnants of the group Opal, in 1988. Founding member David Roback's friend Hope Sandoval became the group's

vocalist when Kendra Smith left Opal. Mazzy Star has deep roots within the Californian Paisley Underground movement of the early 1980s. David Roback, along with his brother Steven, was one of the main architects of leading Los Angeles psychedelic revival band the Rain Parade. Leaving that band after their first LP, he founded Clay Allison in 1983 with then-girlfriend, ex-Dream Syndicate bassist Kendra Smith.
                                                                                    

Soon after the publication of their sole release, the 1983 double A-sided single "Fell From the Sun"/"All Souls", Clay Allison renamed themselves Opal and released the LP Happy Nightmare Baby

on SST on December 14, 1987. With Roback as its musical catalyst, Opal were a direct precursor to Mazzy Star musically—often featuring the same psychedelic guitar drones and similar hints of blues and folk that would later appear on Mazzy Star recordings. Meanwhile, Sandoval—who was in high school at the time—formed the folk music duo Going Home in the early 1980s with fellow student Sylvia Gomez, and played gigs with Sonic Youth and Minutemen.
                                                                             

Both were devoted followers of the Rain Parade, and after a 1983 concert by the band in the Los

Angeles area, Gomez entered the backstage area of the venue and gave Roback a copy of Going Home's demo tape, featuring Sandoval on vocals and Gomez on guitar. Upon hearing the tape, Roback offered to produce a still-unreleased album by the pair. When Smith left Opal under cloudy circumstances in the middle of a tour supporting the Jesus & Mary Chain, Sandoval was tapped as her replacement.

 

 

SHE HANGS BRIGHTLY   1990

                                                                                          

She Hangs Brightly was the first album by the dream pop band Mazzy Star,  after the demise of Opal. It

was released in May 1990 on Rough Trade and, although it was not an immediate commercial success, the album established the duo as a recurrent fixture on alternative rock radio, with lead single "Blue Flower" – a cover of the Slapp Happy track (Slapp Happy was a German/English avant-pop group, formed in Germany in 1972.) – peaking at No. 29 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart. The album would go on to sell over 70,000 copies in the UK.
                      

The leadoff track "Halah" was also released as a single. It announces the band's trademark effect with haunting guitar work and lyrics, and Hope Sandoval's disengaged vocals. Roback's Robbie Krieger-inspired psychedelic blues slide guitar style can be heard on the song, "Free". "Ghost Highway" is another psychedelic rock track, with a fast rhythm. This song dates from the band's days as Opal and was initially slated to be the title track of Opal's second album. While not a commercial success, this album did establish Mazzy Star as a unique band with a unique sound.
                                                                

In a review for Rolling Stone, Gina Arnold praised She Hangs Brightly as being "coldly beautiful". AllMusic's Jason Ankeny described Hope Sandoval's vocals as "more sultry" than those of Opal's Kendra Smith and praised "Halah" and "Blue Flower" but criticized the album's lack of focus, calling

the remaining tunes "unmemorable". (Mazzy Star's debut, She Hangs Brightly, picks up where Opal's Happy Nightmare Baby left off; merely exchanging Kendra Smith's languorous vocals for the more sultry presence of Hope Sandoval, David Roback continues chasing the neo-psychedelic holy grail he's pursued since his days with the Rain Parade, albeit with mixed success here. After opening with a pair of standouts, the dreamy "Halah" and the garage-inspired "Blue Flower," the album quickly loses focus, and even the group's solid grasp of atmosphere and texture can't overcome the songs' distinctly unmemorable melodies.)
                                      

Kurt Cobain of Nirvana listed She Hangs Brightly in his top fifty albums of all time. In 2018, Pitchfork ranked the album at number 29 on its list of the 30 best dream pop albums.

The album cover is a shot of the interior of Hotel Tassel in Brussels.

TRAXS

 

01. Halah         3:16
02. Blue Flower  (Peter BlegvadAnthony Moore)  3:35
03. Ride It On         3:01
04. She Hangs Brightly         6:24
05. I'm Sailin'  (Minnie McCoy)    3:13
06. Give You My Lovin'  (Sylvia Gomez)    3:50
07. Be My Angel         3:17
08. Taste of Blood         5:36
09. Ghost Highway    (Roback)    3:28
10. Free     3:11
11. Before I Sleep     2:10

Total length:    40:28

MEMBERS

Hope Sandoval
David Roback
Sylvia Gomez
Keith Mitchell
Suki Ewers
William Cooper
Paul Olguin.

BLUE FLOWER  LYRICS

Waitin' for a sign from you
Waitin' for a signal to change
Have you forgotten what your love can do?
Is this the end?

Walkin' through the city
Your boots are high-hilled and are shinin' bright
The sun was sparklin' on the shaft of your knife
Flower in the morning rain
Dying in my hand

Was it all in vain?
Superstar in your own private movie
I wanted just a minor part
But I'm no fool
I know you're cool
I never really wanted your heart

You're the keeper of the key
Nothing seems to bring you down
It's not that cool when I'm around

Flower in the morning rain
Dying in my hand

Was it all in vain?
Superstar in your own bright movie
I wanted just a minor part
But I'm no fool
I know you're cool
I never really wanted your heart

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SEASONS OF YOUR DAY   2013

                                                                                      

(Mazzy Star is one of those rare bands whose very name has come to define a certain aesthetic. Many of us who make a living writing and talking about music are all probably guilty at some point of describing a new record as having a very “Mazzy Star” kind of vibe — i.e. anything pretty and dreamy

and druggy and gorgeously slow. If anything, it’s a compliment to the band that they have managed, over the course of 23 years, to carve out their own private and very woozy niche. Mazzy Star makes music that brings to mind hints of the folky Paisley Underground, soporific blues riffs, reverbed guitar lines that go one for days, and a voice — courtesy of Hope Sandoval — with the same sonic quality as opium smoke, rising and weaving through songs that always sound best when played in the middle of the night (or, for those of us of a certain age, perhaps during a college makeout session).
                                                           

It’s been 17 years since the duo last released an album (1996’s Among My Swan), but this month they will break their long silence with the release of Seasons of Your Day, an album that pretty much sounds exactly like Mazzy Star (in the most beautiful way possible). I contacted Sandoval and bandmate David

Roback via the world’s most complicated Skype scenario: Hope in Ireland, David in Norway, and myself in Brooklyn. Not surprisingly, given their reclusive nature and the famously reserved quality of their music, the two musicians might just be the unchattiest people I’ve ever tried to talk to. I don’t mind, though. Mazzy Star’s music has seen me (and a lot of people) through some dark and confusing (and also wonderful) times … and even if they aren’t all that psyched about explaining themselves, I’m just happy that they are back.) STEREOGUM
                                                                 

Seasons of Your Day is the fourth studio album by American alternative rock band Mazzy Star. It was released on September 23, 2013 by the band's own independent record label, Rhymes of An Hour. Their first record since the release of their third album Among My Swan in 1996, and the subsequent

dissolution of their contract with Capitol Records the following year, they continued recording in 1997 while without a record deal and worked sporadically until the completion of the album in September 2012. The album was recorded in several locations including California, London and Norway, and features contributions from most of the band's original members, including their late violinist Will Glenn, who died from cancer in 2001. The album also features Hope Sandoval's Warm Inventions partner Colm Ó Cíosóig, while the late Bert Jansch performs guitar on the song "Spoon".
                                                                          

Upon its release, Seasons of Your Day received generally favorable reviews from music critics, who complimented its overall production and quality of songwriting. "Common Burn"/"Lay Myself Down"

was released as the lead single from the album on October 31, 2011 digitally, while a limited edition 7" vinyl followed on January 24, 2012. "California" was issued as the first proper single from the album on August 20, 2013. A double A-sided 7" vinyl of "Seasons of Your Day"/"Sparrow" was released through Rough Trade Records on November 4, 2013. The album was followed by a non-album single, "I'm Less Here" on Record Store Day 2014.
                                                                

The album charted at a career-high position of number 24 on the UK Albums Chart, while also peaking at number five on Billboard's Independent Albums Chart. The band promoted the album with a fourteen date tour of North America in November 2013.

TRAXS

                                                                                   

01. In the Kingdom    5:15
02. California    5:23
03. I've Gotta Stop    4:05
04. Does Someone Have Your Baby Now?    4:09
05. Common Burn    5:10
06. Seasons of Your Day    3:41
07. Lay Myself Down    4:32
08. Sparrow    4:05
09. Spoon    6:10
10. Flying Low    7:36

Total length:    50:05

MEMBERS

David Roback – guitar, keyboard, producer, engineer, mixing
Hope Sandoval – vocals, guitar, glockenspiel, harmonica, tambourine, producer, engineer, mixing
William Cooper – keyboard on "Lay Myself Down"
Suki Ewers – keyboard
Keith Mitchell – drums
Paul Mitchell – viola on "Seasons of Your Day"
Colm Ó Cíosóig – guitar, bass, keyboard, drums
Bert Jansch – guitar on "Spoon"
Stephen McCarthy – pedal steel guitar on "Lay Myself Down"
Paul Olguin – bass on "Lay Myself Down"

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Mazzy Star on URBAN ASPIRINES HERE 

On This Blog you can also find: The Dream Syndicate, Opal, The Rain Parade.