album review: seasons of your day, mazzy star

I’ve been waiting a lifetime for Mazzy Star’s latest album, Seasons Of Your Day. I mean this literally, as their last release, Among My Swan came out in the year of my birth, seventeen years ago. Since then, I’ve gone through many changes, puberty being one of them. Mazzy Star’s sound has not been subject to anything so awkward or exasperating. It remains just as enchanting as it did when I exited the womb, perhaps more true to the band than ever.

Released last Tuesday, the ’90s dream-pop group’s fourth studio album is comprised of recordings separated by time and geography, in a manner that has somehow produced a collection of songs that move seamlessly between each other. It’s a release that begs to be listened to in its entirety.

The opening organ peals of ‘In The Kingdom’ give way to wistful twangs reflecting a blues influence integral to Mazzy Star’s sound. Everything around you stops, however, when Hope Sandoval’s voice floats in, as warm and honeyed as it was in ‘Fade Into You’, the track that brought the captivating shoegaze act to a broader audience. ‘California’, the single release from the album, frees Mazzy Star’s characteristic brooding atmosphere from the heavy use of pedals/echo/guitar and allows it to shine with an easier, acoustic sound. The natural tones continue in ‘I’ve Gotta Stop’, Sandoval’s voice gracefully weaving through a warbling electric guitar.

A resonant melancholy emerges from ‘Does Someone Have Your Baby Now?’, while ‘Common Burn’ is decidedly contemplative, glockenspiel and guitar skipping and harmonica swinging along a desert horizon. We hear Sandoval crooning softly, almost privately, in absentminded reflection. Seasons Of Your Day’s title track is sprawling and knowing, guided by a meditative picking pattern, strings emerging from the background in a manner reminiscent of Penguin Café Orchestra. ‘Lay Myself Down’ is languid and lilting and serves as a reference to the group’s country influences. Sparrow trails after it in a quiet, wondrous daze. The penultimate track features late guitar virtuoso Bert Jansch, who pulls psychedelic swirls and shimmering strums into an embrace around Sandoval’s breathy murmurs. Seasons Of Your Day closes the album with the coy musings of ‘Flying Low’, blues and shoegaze melding together in a glittering, alluring conclusion.

If anything, this album confirms my standard rule of directing any Lana Del Rey fans straight to Mazzy Star. Seasons Of Your Day is equal parts melancholic and enthralling, a triumphant reunion for a sound proven unquestionably timeless.

Image credit