Mazzy Star - "Still EP"

Mazzy Star in the early 90's helped define the early days of Dream Pop, and they did it wonderfully.  Their 1991 debut "She Hangs Brightly" I have literally nothing bad to say about.  It's actually one of the most beautiful albums in the genre, bringing in Psychedelic Rock atmospheres and Blues oriented tracks as well.  But for me, what made the music of Mazzy Star so special was the performances of Hope Sandoval.  She almost had this innocence to her, radiating through these dreamy, often dark atmospheres.  It actually made the music of Mazzy Star incredibly charming.  Mazzy Star returned in 1993 with "So Tonight That I Might See".  This album was just as charming and beautiful, especially the album's breakthrough single "Fade Into You".  But this album was noticeably MUCH darker.  Which trust me, wasn't bad thing.  It made this album so much more hulking and beautiful, and absolutely more intense.  Now, we wouldn't hear from Mazzy Star for another 3 years.  In 1996 they returned with "Among My Swan", which by all means isn't terrible.  I loved the therapeutic and mystic "Rhymes Of An Hour", as well as the bluesy and truly beautiful "Cry Cry".  But to me, there was something missing from this album.  Mazzy Star was still penning unbelievably beautiful tracks, that was a given.  But for me the bands atmosphere didn't come across nearly as complete.  Mazzy Star than took quite some time off, 17 years actually.  They returned in 2013 with "Seasons of Your Day", and honestly didn't sound like they lost much.  This may not have been as much of a mysterious album, or one that had that surreal darkness to it.  But Mazzy Star were still writing very breezy, dreamy Dream Pop with Psychedelic tendencies.  So it's been 5 years since we've heard from Mazzy Star.  But ugh I dunno, I really wasn't too crazy about the one single leading up to this EP.  Let's chat about it friends.

This EP starts with "Quiet, The Winter Harbour", and it's one of the lightest, airiest tracks I've ever heard from Mazzy Star, which is absolutely saying something because they've made a career on it.  But there are no psychedelic guitars and there really isn't that much of an atmosphere at all.  No, this is literally more or less just Hope Sandoval and a piano.  Yes, there are some instruments that pop in occasionally, but this track could have easily been on a Hope Sandoval solo album.  When the guitars eventually pop in, this does get a little more charming and sweet and sounds more like a Mazzy Star track.  But for me, this is a rough start and is sadly putting me to sleep.  Then we have "That Way Again", and at the very least this seems to have a little oomph to it.  It's still light, breezy and dark.  But more importantly, this comes off like a Mazzy Star track from a mile away.  This one is mysterious and all, but it's also very charming and instantaneous.  It's crazy just how well Hope's voice has held up over the years, she honestly sounds incredible.  Not to mention, I love just how surreal and dreary this one is.  If Mazzy Star is going to go for these constantly stripped-down ballads, this is the sound they should be going for.  Not to mention, I just love how broken down and bluesy the guitars are coming off.  "That Way Again" is beautiful.

Then we have "Still", which is another very stripped down, Nocturnal Folk tune.  But the violin droning away in the background alongside the incredibly mysterious and downright dark performance by Hope is actually incredible.  This is only about 2 minutes, but I would have loved to hear this one stretched out for twice the length.  This EP ends off with a reworking of "So Tonight That I Might See".  This is by far the most instrumentally vast track yet, with wailing guitars and eerie synths.  And then we have Hope's performance which is just so genuinely dark, between her constant whispering and the multiple layers, this is seriously freaky.  This EP may have started out as a snoozer, but this is absolutely keeping my attention now.  And at 8 minutes longest track here, it's really great to hear the band at this stage being able to flesh out their sound.  It's dense, atmospheric, and sounds like it should have been in some horror movie revolving around cults.

Rating: 7.3/10

Genre: Dream Pop / Alternative Rock / Psychedelic Rock

Overall Thoughts:  While this EP had a little bit of a rocky start, it became very quickly another very solid notch in the long career of these Dream Pop legends.  I mean, this is a pretty short EP that focuses mostly around Hope Sandoval, a piano, and occasionally some other very light instrumentals.  But let me tell you, Mazzy Star shows us confidently that that's all they need.  It's dark, it's simple, it's hypnotic, and that's really all you need to know.  And for a short EP it's strangely versatile too, with everything from an 8-minute hypnotic masterpiece to a 2-minute interlude that will have you craving more all present.  I wouldn't mind hearing more from Mazzy Star at all.