Phases and Stages

Mazzy Star

Mazzy Star's reunion hasn't exactly prompted parades. Hope Sandoval kept the nocturnal reverb for her Warm Inventions band, and despite the ubiquity of her former act's "Fade Into You," the Santa Monica group broke up at juncture of wider appeal. Moving dolefully between chiming psychedelia and anesthetizing folk never demanded much of its adherents. Thus it seems utterly predictable that Mazzy Star's comeback album, Seasons of Your Day, finds the band sounding as fully formed as it did in the mid-Nineties. As always, they thrive in the quiet moments, Dave Roback returning in fine form on the sleepy, finger-picked "Sparrow" and wheelbarrow slide-guitar of "Does Someone Have Your Baby Now?" Centerpiece "Common Burn" stands as one of the prettiest pieces of music released all year. No analysis, no interpretation, nothing to feel uncomfortable about here, just beautiful desolation. Mazzy Star was always a band to hide away with, and nothing's changed in 2013.