Mazzy Star appeared on my radar recently, after I finally decided to check out did Hope Sandoval (she lent her vocal for Paradise Circus and The Spoils, two tracks by Massive Attack) recorded any full-length records since her vocal capabilities are marvelous. The first thing I thought after listening to She Hangs Brightly was something like “great; you could’ve done this years ago but nooo, you had to wait until now to discover this amazing band.”
Anyway, Mazzy Star is a wondrous band, playing their version of psychedelic dream pop combined with various other influences; their debut album She Hangs Brightly is one of those albums every music lover have to hear at least once in their life. Music is so mottled, Hope’s vocal so enchanting. It feels like the girl is a million miles away, signing through some wormhole capable of perfectly transferring every note, but at the same time giving her voice an echo, spraying the songs with shades of times passed.
This phenomenon is prominent on I’m Sailing, where dream pop clashes with old-school blues, with vocals sounding like they came from the turn of the 20th century New Orleans, the times when blues started getting its shape. She Hangs Brightly, the title song, sounds like Jim Morrison decided to hire a female singer to replace him while he went in the desert, ate a bunch of shrooms, wrote music for the song, and got back through time to hand it out to the band just in time before they started to record it with Hope managing vocal duties. Psychedelic blues-rock at its bestest.
The album is filled with these stranger-than-fiction moments; the band shuffles through genres effortlessly while maintaining a strong dream pop foundation. Be My Angel is the best example of what they can do while playing their ground style – a simple yet so complex poem telling how the secret of life is found in humble things, things we sometimes can’t have even if having all the money and power in the world. Ghost Highway constructs a grove filled with flora capable of gripping you and never letting go. Halah, the album opener is so easy going, gifting you a ticket for a ride you’ll never forget.
Guitar work is so distraitly chill out; nevertheless, it occupies listener’s attention to the max, building an engrossing atmosphere so hard to get out of. She Hangs Brightly is an album perfect for repeated listens thru the day, one play after another. A masterpiece which, unfortunately, Mazzy Star never managed to top, or even get close to with their other albums. A shame, but at least they recorded She Hangs Brightly; an album meant to be heard by every single music lover in the world.
