Mazzy Star – ‘California’
Ethereal, dreamy, enigmatic, laid back, cathartic, tear-jerking, sedative, love-making, beautiful, angelic and spiritual are just a small number of apt adjectives among a plethora that have been uttered by fans and listeners of the music masterfully created by Mazzy Star who have announced their first album, entitled Seasons Of Your Day, in 17 years, earlier this week.
Paying homage to such wonderful news, the new single by Hope Sandoval and Dave Roback’s incarnation, ‘California’, features as Far Out’s track of the day and, may I add, for very good reason.
Formed in Santa Monica, CA, in 1989, the band was born in California’s psychedelic revival period, now referred to as the Paisley Underground, a movement most noted for the exposure of The Bangles, Rain Parade and The Dream Syndicate (the latter two being a must listen).
After initially signing with the American branch of Rough Trade in 1988, it wasn’t until the label dissolved that Mazzy Star really started to stand up and be heard. The couplet’s first album, She Hangs Brightly, was re-released by Capitol, followed swiftly by So Tonight That I Might See, the record that has since yielded the most recognition for the pair in the form of the soul-searching ballad Fade Into You.
With ‘California’, Mazzy Star have stayed true to what we have always known and loved about their music: Dave Roback’s exquisite choice of chords and their thought-provoking sound projects perfectly with Sandoval’s reminiscence-riddled lyric and an otherworldly vocal talent that harbours the delicate, innocent beauty of a solitary snowflake yet somehow suggests a deep-seated, undealt with emotive shadow looms.
When finished, many Mazzy Star songs of the past have always left a lingering sense of ambiguous yearning; do I wish to call back the long-lost lover? Make peace with the past? Self-destruct or start anew? Usually, I couldn’t say, but after listening to ‘California’, what I want is clear…. To forget the world for an hour or so and listen to Seasons Of Your Day in its entirety.
Check out the track below.
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