Mazzy Star an American alternative rock band formed in 1988 in Santa Monica, California, from remnants of the group Opal. Founding member David Roback’s friend Hope Sandoval became the group’s vocalist when Kendra Smith left Opal.
Mazzy Star is best known for the song “Fade into You”, which brought the band commercial success in the mid-1990s and was the group’s biggest mainstream hit, earning extensive exposure on MTV, and radio airplay. Roback and Sandoval were the creative center of the band, with Sandoval as lyricist and Roback as composer of the majority of the band’s material until his death in Los Angeles in February 2020, from cancer.
The band was critically acclaimed and commercially successful, but also faced challenges and struggles, such as pressure from the music industry, personal issues, and creative differences. The band eventually faded from the spotlight, and Roback tragically passed away in 2020, leaving behind a legacy that still resonates with fans and musicians today.
Mazzy Star’s founding drummer Keith Mitchell, originally part of Opal, died on May 2017, also from cancer. Thier EP “Still” released on June 2018, was dedicated to Mitchell and stage manager Tom Cashen who also died in 2017.
Mazzy Star has deep roots within the 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 debut 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 records 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 Sandoval was chosen as her replacement.
Despite Smith’s departure, Rough Trade retained Roback’s original record deal, contractually obligating him to supply a follow-up to Opal’s debut LP. As a result, Roback and Sandoval continued to tour under the Opal alias for the next two years, during which time they completed production on Opal’s planned second album, titled “Ghost Highway.”
Composed mainly of songs written by Roback and Smith, Sandoval stated that she was unhappy with the material, and expressed an interest in wanting to “start something completely new”. The pair quickly composed and recorded seven new tracks in Hyde Street Studios in San Francisco, and renamed the band Mazzy Star. Written over a year before Mazzy Star’s inception, the track “Ghost Highway” is the band’s only original song to not feature a writing credit from Sandoval, while another song, “Give You My Lovin'”, was written by Going Home guitarist Sylvia Gomez which had first been recorded by Sandoval and Gomez in the mid-1980s.
Following Roback’s death in 2020, Sandoval and Ewers are the last surviving members of the band’s original lineup. The band released three album’s “She Hangs Brightly” in 1990, “So Tonight That I Might See” in 1993 (the album went platinum in 1995), and “Among My Swan” in 1996.
The band’s fourth studio album, “Seasons of Your Day“, was released in 2013, followed by the EP “Still” in 2018.
“She Hangs Brightly”
“She Hangs Brightly” 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, The album would go on to sell over 70,000 copies in the UK.
This dark and dreamy psychedelic band pairs former Rain Parade and Opal guitarist Dave Roback with vocalist Hope Sandoval. Drawing primarily from the swirling, textured drone of such ’60s groups as the Velvet Underground and the Doors, Mazzy Star also incorporate blues, country, and pulsing acoustic folk elements, creating a highly textured and luminous amalgam. The band’s auspicious debut is a rich, atmospheric bag of tricks.
“So Tonight That I Might See”
The American branch of Rough Trade folded in late 1990, briefly leaving Mazzy Star without a record label. Within weeks, the duo’s contract was picked up by Capitol Records, who re-released “She Hangs Brightly” November 1990, and released their follow-up, “So Tonight That I Might See” on September 1993.
Combining the considerable talents of guitarist Dave Roback (Opal, Rain Parade) and Hope Sandoval‘s sultry, heavy-lidded vocals, Mazzy Star fuses blues, country, and pulsing acoustic folk in a dark psychedelic mix that recalls The Velvet Underground and The Doors. The group’s highly textured, atmospheric sound emerged glittering and fully formed on the debut She Hangs Brightly, surprising listeners of underground music with its moody yet accessible mix.
A year after its release, the album yielded an unexpected hit single. “Fade into You” Following the success of “Fade into You”, “She Hangs Brightly” album opener “Halah” began to receive heavy airplay.
“So Tonight That I Might See” sticks close to the ground staked out by its predecessor, though with no less success. “Wasted” moves insistently down the twelve-bar road to nuanced, snarling guitar embellishments. “Blue Light” is smoky, blue-eyed (if black-hearted) soul.
Of particular note is the cover of Arthur Lee’s “Five String Serenade,” graced with lilting cello and tambourine accompaniment. Dave Roback‘s electric/lysergic guitar explorations and Hope Sandoval‘s bluesy, lazily erotic sigh weave a deeply evocative spell, making “So Tonight” a perfect 2:00am album.
“Among My Swan“
Their final album for Capitol, “Among My Swan“, was released on October 1996. it produced their highest-peaking single in the United Kingdom, when “Flowers in December” entered the chart
“Among My Swan” features the same swirling, psychedelic folk music that brought Mazzy Star mainstream success with 1993’s “So Tonight that I Might See”. The songs employ the sparse arrangements and dark sense of space first explored by bands like Big Star (on Third / Sister Lovers) and the Velvet Underground. but with tunes that are always accessible, and sometimes irresistible, Mazzy Star has brought this dreamy ballad sound up from the underground. David Roback provides a shimmering backdrop of slide guitar and organ for Hope Sandoval’s mesmerizing vocals. smooth as honey and wispy as tumbleweed, Sandoval’s haunting voice traps the listener in a celestial trance. “Among My Swan” never lapses into the self-indulgent side of psychedelia; the music is always kept muted and close to its folk and blues roots. this is an album of beautiful mood music that flickers in the shadows.
The band promoted the album with a five-month tour of the US and Europe, after which Sandoval and Roback began work on new material. Over the course of these sessions, Sandoval reportedly “begged” Capitol to be released from her contract, later elaborating, “It seemed record companies wanted bands to be creative because they didn’t know how to manufacture underground music. We could do our own thing and go at our own pace. But that changed when major labels started wanting bands that would sell millions of records. They had a formula. And suddenly all these people wanted to come to the studio to keep track of what we were doing and make sure we were following that formula.
“Seasons of Your Day”
“Seasons of Your Day” is the fourth studio album by Mazzy Star, coming after a long hiatus of seventeen years. This album returns to the band’s roots with a blend of folk, blues, and psychedelic elements, marked by the languorous vocals of Hope Sandoval and the intricate guitar work of David Roback.
The band finally returned in 2013, with their fourth and final album, “Seasons of Your Day”, which was released on their own label, Rhymes of an Hour Records. The album was a welcome comeback for the fans and the critics, who appreciated the band’s consistency and quality, as well as their new and fresh elements. The album featured songs such as ‘California’, ‘In the Kingdom’, and ‘Common Burn’, which demonstrated the band’s timeless and classic sound, as well as their growth and evolution.
This album was recorded between 2010 and 2012 in California and Norway. The production was led by David Roback, who also performed most of the instrumental work with Sandoval’s vocals leading the emotional depth of the record.
The album also featured guest appearances from musicians such as My Bloody Valentine’s Colm O’Ciosoig, and the late Bert Jansch, a legendary folk guitarist who influenced Roback.
The Winter of ’94 and a year after the release of the sublime “So Tonight That I Might See”, Mazzy Star find themselves still touring and promoting the album, some of the songs featured here are from that album such as “Into Dust”, “Bells Ring” the title track and the hit single “Fade Into You”. Whilst songs like “Flowers In December” would turn up on the next album released a whole two years later.
Four of the selections are from the critically acclaimed first album “She Hangs Brightly” issued in 1990, including the Sylvia Gomez penned “Give You My Lovin” and the obscure German band Slapp Happy cover of “Blue Flower”.
In the immediate aftermath of Mazzy Star’s dissolution, Sandoval, who had appeared on the Jesus and Mary Chain’s 1994 release “Stoned & Dethroned“, made another guest appearance on their album “Munki“, she also collaborated with the Chemical Brothers, while Roback produced and mixed two songs found on Beth Orton’s 1999 album “Central Reservation“.
In June 2000, the band reunited for a mini-tour of Europe. Performing up to seven new songs at each of these concerts, Sandoval revealed in interviews around this time that these new songs were written and recorded for Mazzy Star’s fourth studio album, which was to be released independently sometime in the future. This did not materialize, however, as later that year, Sandoval joined with Colm Ó Cíosóig (formerly of My Bloody Valentine) to form Hope Sandoval & the Warm Inventions.
Sandoval issued her first EP with the Warm Inventions, “At the Doorway Again”, and followed it up with her debut full-length album, “Bavarian Fruit Bread“, a year later.
Sandoval performed as part of Bert Jansch’s 60th birthday celebration at Queen Elizabeth Hall on November, 2003. As well as Ó Cíosóig, Jansch and his son Adam, she was also joined on stage by David Roback for renditions of “Suzanne” and “All This Remains”, a song Sandoval had contributed lead vocals and wrote lyrics to for Jansch’s 2002 album “Edge of a Dream“. This would remain Sandoval and Roback’s final appearance together on-stage until 2012.
Roback and Sandoval had a strong musical chemistry, and complemented each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Roback was the main composer and arranger, who played various instruments and created atmospheric and layered soundscapes. Sandoval was the main lyricist and vocalist, who sang with a soft and sultry voice, and expressed intimate and melancholic emotions.
David Roback died on February 2020, of cancer.
Mazzy Star may have come to an actual end, however, as co-founder Roback passed away in February 2020. Sandoval, devastated by the loss, posted a poem about her former partner: “What will we do now? Now that you leave me here. Even though the dark blue sky is still radiant and filled with the comforting sadness that holds us together.”
Mazzy Star discography
- She Hangs Brightly (1990)
- So Tonight That I Might See (1993)
- Among My Swan (1996)
- Seasons of Your Day (2013)
The Fat Angel Sings 