[rating=8.00]
Like an eulogy in reverse, a dreary organ hums the first notes of Mazzy Star’s first work in 17 years. During that time, Hope Sandoval and David Roback never stopped writing and recording together. This much is clear in the dreamy hour of loneliness that follows on Seasons of Your Day, a gently numbing and seamless reintroduction to the duo that gave us “Fade Into You” two decades ago this month.
Sandoval and Roback have preserved and strengthened their proficiency over these sprawling years, and there are moments of such naked beauty, it’s scary. She could sing about cubicles and copy machines and sound just as gorgeous; his guitar stretches the sweet ache of “Sparrow” and stirs emotions on “Spoon,” a ghostly guitar duet with the late Bert Jansch.
Not one note of this fourth album feels contrived; Mazzy Star extends and builds on its command of acoustic psychedelia, fit for slow-dancing in the dark: “Music for lovers, music for broken hearts,” as the record sleeve calls it. Seasons of Your Day was music worth waiting for, from a band that shouldn’t wait so long to bare its soul again.
