song of the day: february 14/2011

Mazzy Star - Fade Into You

Album: So Tonight That I Might See [1993]

thanks to the fluke hit "fade into you" - one of the better beneficiaries of alt-rock's radio prominence in the early '90s, a gentle descent of a lead melody accompanied by piano, a steady beat, and above all else, hope sandoval's lovely lead vocal - mazzy star's second album became something of a commercial success. the album comes with a core emphasis on finding a nexus point between country, folk, psych, and classic rock all shrouded in mystery. though many songs work with full arrangements like "fade into you," a thick but never once overpowering combination, other stripped-down songs demonstrate in different ways how mazzy star makes a virtue out of simplicity. this band much prefered the dark side of psychedelia, as exemplified by the most distended tracks of some of their influencers such as the doors and the velvet underground. their fuzzy guitar workouts and plaintive folky compositions are often suffused in a listlessness that is very much of the 1990s - not to mention lyrics that mix the haunting and the meaninglessly vague. during their tenure, the band remained as enigmatic and aloof as their music, rarely submitting to interviews and offering mysterious, unhelpful replies when journalists did manage to talk with them. in the end, all that matters is that it's an undeniably sexy sounding song - happy valentine's day!

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