hope sandoval comes out of hibernation

New album in September

Revered Mazzy Star frontwoman Hope Sandoval is gearing up to release her first album of new material in eight long years. Together with her other band The Warm Inventions, Hope will issue Through The Devil Softly, the long-awaited follow-up to their 2001 debut Bavarian Fruit Bread, on September 15th. Not only that, but the band will also release a single, ‘Blanchard’, on August 4th through their own label Song Bird, in conjunction with Nettwerk Records. The album was recorded in Northern California and in the Irish countryside. Of her time in Wicklow County, Hope’s bandmate (and drummer for My Bloody Valentine) Colm Ó Cíosóig told Rolling Stone that “It was really nice to go there,” says Ó Cíosóig. “It’s pretty remote. There was nothing but cows next door, a lake and a little pub down the road.” The obvious question – what took so long? – was also fielded. “I don’t really notice the time,” Hope told them. “We don’t keep track of the days and months. And the years.”

Aside from the single, which you can stream here, the album’s 11 tracks also include the songs ‘Wild Roses’, which Rolling Stone describes as “winsome…with a loose, pastoral vibe”, and ‘Bluebird’, a “spare piano-and-acoustic-guitar ballad…as if she’s whispering in your ear.” The article also reveals that, despite her well documented stage fright, Hope intends to put in some stage time for this release. “I enjoy singing with a band playing behind me,” she says, “it’s just that the audience is nerve wracking — even if it’s just 400 or 500 people.” The prospects for a UK appearance don’t sound especially promising from that, but we can dream.

Oh, and Mazzy Star are still together and still working on the follow-up to 1996’s Among My Swan! “It’s true we’re still together,” says Hope. “We’re almost finished [with the record]. But I have no idea what that means.”

Alan Pedder

Written by: Wears The Trousers magazine

Tags: alan pedder, hope sandoval, news, warm inventions

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