Music:
Member Since: 12/30/2006
Band Members: Hope Sandoval continues in the vein of Mazzy Star, but here without David Roback. Creating elusive but accessible dream pop, she's joined by Colm O'Ciosoig of My Bloody Valentine, now part of a band she calls the Warm Inventions. The two combine talents to make a stylistically more varied set than the Mazzy Star releases of the '90s. Sandoval's distinct vocals remain intact but what's different is the overall feel of the music; where it was once overtly shoegaze-y, Sandoval now lets up a bit, allowing in some luminescence and variety. "On the Low" stands out because of its lazy bossa nova rhythms, lounge-y backup vocals, and odd harmonica part, but all the songs contain their own brand of subtle loveliness. Bert Jansch contributes his lilting olde English guitar work to two tracks, and Ji-Young Moon adds heartbreaking cello parts to "Feeling of Gaze."Hope Sandoval (born 1966) is an American singer-songwriter who was lead singer for Mazzy Star and later Hope Sandoval & the Warm Inventions.Early life and careerSandoval is from a large Mexican-American family in East Los Angeles, California.Sandoval started her career in 1986 with her friend Sylvia Gomez in a folk music duo called Going Home.Opal and Mazzy StarHope started to sing and perform with the band Opal in the late 1980s alongside David Roback. The two began writing together and renamed their alternative/dream pop band Mazzy Star.The first Mazzy Star album, She Hangs Brightly was released in 1991. While not a commercial success, this album did establish Hope and David as a unique band with a sound that has been often imitated.They had what many consider a surprise breakthrough hit single in early 1992. "Fade Into You" — from their second album So Tonight That I Might See — was recorded one year before it became a success (with heavy video rotation on MTV).The tracks on the third Mazzy Star album, Among my Swan continue the sound and feel established on the first two albums.Post-Mazzy StarAfter 1996, Hope began a career of working with other bands. She collaborated with a series of artists, including Air, Bert Jansch, Death in Vegas, Le Volume Courbe, Richard X, The Chemical Brothers, The Jesus & Mary Chain, Twilight Singers, and Vetiver.Hope Sandoval & The Warm InventionsHope formed The Warm Inventions and released their first (and thus far only album) called "Bavarian Fruit Bread", in 2001. This album sounds, again, little different in terms of theme, voice, and instrumentation than that of her work with Mazzy Star. However, with a larger band behind her, and more time to work creatively, Hope's voice has matured on these songs.Subsequently, The Warm Inventions released three EPs but received very little commercial success, no video on MTV, and very little radio play. Nonetheless, this band's efforts were appreciated by her fan base.In live performance, Hope prefers to play in near darkness with only a dim backlight.
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Record Label: Huge
Type of Label: Major
