In a recent interview Mazzy Star’s Hope Sandoval shrugged off the 17-year wait since the duo’s last album. “We really weren’t in the mood to release music,” she said. “I don’t think it’s unusual at all.” Never ones to rush themselves, on Seasons Of Your Day Sandoval and guitarist David Roback once again sway to their own sad, strange rhythms.
Specialists in a sort of supercharged drowsiness, they cleave to the formula that yielded their signature hit, 1994’s ‘Fade Into You’, and if the results are not nearly so memorable, that probably has less to do with Mazzy Star than with the generation of soundalikes who have sprung up in their absence. Thus, younger listeners may wonder at the superficial similarities to dreamcore lullaby-weavers such as Low and, especially, Beach House. Tie-dyed in reverb ‘Does Someone Have Your Baby Now’ and ‘Common Burn’ could, for instance, have appeared on any of Mazzy Star’s previous records though the presence on bass of My Bloody Valentine’s Colm O Ciosoig adds occasional urgency.
Perhaps the biggest difference is a gear-shift in Sandoval’s vocal nuance. Where once her range was limited to throaty purr or numbing croon, here she injects lived-in sensuality, transforming what might otherwise have been a blizzard of off-the-peg melancholia into something stark and smart. Generally, however, the motto seems to be ‘if it ain’t broke, drown it in feedback’.

Key Track: 'Common Burn'