Mazzy Star

Mazzy Star emerged with 1993’s intoxicating, decade-defining “Fade into You”. But the duo of vocalist Hope Sandoval and guitarist/producer David Roback had been bubbling under the surface for several years, since forming from the ashes of Los Angeles’ paisley underground band Opal in the late ‘80s. The pair established its heady folk-noir sound on 1990’s She Hangs Brightly, then mastered it with 1993’s So Tonight That I Might See and 1996’s Among My Swan—all vital dream-pop touchstones. Sandoval intones like a fallen angel, her lithe and lullaby-like vocals floating ominously above Roback’s bluesy psych guitar. Organ drones, pedal-steel plucks and tambourine shivers gently propel each slow, simmering burn. After 17 years, Mazzy Star returned to potent form with 2013’s dusty, delicate Seasons of Your Day—its melancholic reveries as timely and timeless as ever.