Mazzy Star – Among My Swan

This was Hope Sandoval and David Roback’s third album as Mazzy Star.  It came out in 1996, and was relatively unheralded, without a ‘big’ single like Fade Into You.  Growling guitars introduce Disappear, underneath Roback’s languid guitar licks and Sandoval’s draggy vocals that you almost sink into.

The stripped down material works really well to allow Sandoval’s voice to take centre stage on Take Everything (featuring a fine guitar solo from Jesus and Mary Chain’s William Reid) and the finger picked All Your Sisters. Mazzy Star always tend to include a droney Doors-like track, and this album’s is called Umbilical.  Sandoval whispers her vocals over an eerie organ.

Like all of their material this album is the soundtrack to being practically horizontal.  It’s not the Mazzy Star album to buy first, but it might be the one that resonates longest.

Tracklist:
        Disappear    4:04
        Flowers In December    4:57
        Rhymes Of An Hour    4:12
        Cry, Cry    3:58
        Take Everything    4:53
        Still Cold    4:48
        All Your Sisters    5:16
        I've Been Let Down    3:17
        Roseblood    4:51
        Happy    3:58
        Umbilical    4:59
        Look On Down From The Bridge    4:47