I continue the #zot2016 review with an album I’ve been meaning to check out for a while (i.e., I wanted to listen to it since it came out).

Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions - Until the Hunter (Tendril Tales).

'Until the Hunter' is Hope Sandoval's (Mazzy Star) third album with the Warm Inventions. Released on Tendril Tales on November 4, 2016, the album was produced with the collaboration of Colm O Ciosoig (drummer of MBV) as producer and features a significant special guest, Kurt Vile, who co-wrote the song 'Let Me Get There' with Hope, a pop-soul ballad with very seventies vibes that can even remind one of giants like Marvin Gaye and Gil-Scott Heron. The album is undoubtedly a quality product, elegant and stylish, as is typical of Hope, alternating more pop tracks like 'The Peasant Ballad', 'Day Disguise', 'Isn't It True' with more minimal and evocative pieces like the ballads 'A Wonderful Seed' (which recalls the famous 'Spanish Caravan' by the Doors), the bluesy 'Salt Of The Sea', and the country western 'I Took A Slip', leading up to the conclusive 'Liquid Lady', which, along with 'Let Me Get There' (I confirm that I now prefer Kurt Vile in his collaborations, including the one on the LP with Courtney Barnett, more than in his solo work), is probably the most convincing song on the album where Hope Sandoval showcases all her performer abilities. Ultimately, it's an album by a singer-songwriter who knows how to write well but may lack expressive strength in the arrangements, just as her vocal performances are not always as convincing as Hope has accustomed us (perhaps too well) to in the past. 3/5

Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions - Let Me Get There ft. Kurt Vile