Mazzy Star
Among My Swan

THE REVIEW

I saw the Mazzy Star of Dave Roback and the sad siren Hope Sandoval back in 2004: she was shy and literally hid behind the microphone, managing it given her slenderness, he remained in the shadows with his eyes perpetually covered by his fringe and with his guitar.
Violet lights flooded the stage and the audience; a violin, a drum, a bass, and a cello completed the sweet arsenal of these soldiers of melancholy.
The beauty of this sound is unique, produced by the mind of Dave Roback and turned into a sorrowful word by the misty voice of Sandoval, a modern Nico and chanteuse of broken loves and solitary contemplations, always remaining graceful and sweet.

The duo plays a dreamy Folk with velvetian ascendances, with a splendid echo that soothes every piece, as if the recordings were held in an abandoned gallery or in the hall of a hotel closed for the season.
Everything in Mazzy Star reflects the condition of reflecting on the events of life, sitting down and thinking about past things but without anger; a thought sweet and subtle like the shadow of a ghost that has left earthly affections and bears no grudge in seeing loved ones accompanied by other men or women. The sound of the delicate and poignant femininity of the world.

The pieces are one more intense than the other, strong with Roback's bluesier approach and Sandoval's gentle breath, sometimes some distortions break the calm surface of the lake, but they are only moments before plunging back into the dreamlike dimension of voice and stories.
Folk therefore, but also blues echoes or true timeless ballads like "All Your Sisters": truly an ideal soundtrack for a Jane Eyre or the sorrowful poems of Sylvia Plath.
For me, one of the best bands of the nineties: evocative, strong, and simple; alien to every market rule of the time, full of other genres than this, therefore a band to be rediscovered and loved.