Customer Reviews

Among My Swan (180 Gram Vinyl)

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Mazzy Star's latest album, Among My Swan, is both an exceptional sound and experience. Perhaps there should be one qualification in that its not for everyone in the Techno Spice World of Top 40. The Velvet Underground, the Doors, blues and even country are commonly cited as influences on the album's various tracks. Hope Sandoval's ethereal vocals glide gracefully over the studied understatement of Dave Roback's guitar work and arrangements. The music turns rhythmically in subtle shades of tone and mood like sunlight through swaying branches on an eternal afternoon. Notable tracks include "Flowers in December" and "I've Been Let Down" which really let Hope's exquisite lyrics and voice shine. Shy and heartfelt, she can convey a sadness so profound that it is almost resignation. The music has been described as depressing, but in its own way, like an opera, it magically transforms that sadness into something beautiful, poignant and ultimately powerful. If you've noticed, it tends to inspire the group's fans to wax poetic, perhaps having been in touch with something extraordinary.

This is one of the best discs I own.

These songs are so incredibly sad and so full of longing... There's no other experience quite like sitting alone on the beach drinking to excess and listening to All Your Sisters the day a love affair ends. At moments like that, the song will bring you closer to death and closer to life than anything else you've ever heard.

Try driving through the northwestern woods on a dreamy day while listening to I've Been Let Down or Take Everything or Look On Down From the Bridge. You'll cry. You'll remember. You'll feel. You'll find yourself asleep while you're awake, dreaming of lost loves and hazy afternoons in bed and intoxicated-- those moments that ended, even though you never wanted them to... those moments you'd long since forgotten.

I love this music and this music loves me. I drink to this music, and sometimes I feel as though these songs raise a glass to me. Probably, you'll love this music, too. Welcome back to the era when music meant something.

This group and their music is so much more than just lyrics and instruments. It creates feelings and images in your mind, especially some of the songs on this album, they create a dream like state where things can become surreal, almost like a whisper. I have always enjoyed writing, but sometimes its hard to get into the needed mood. Often times music can only be a distraction, but this music creates images in the mind and creates scenes of imagination. Characters can begin speaking to you on a weird level, all because of a trance-like state that this soft music can cause. I am truly appreciative to Mazzy Star for their work, the beauty that they create. -Allen Darrah

One should be warned before listening to A Mazzy Star album that they make powerful music and if you're listening closely it may take you off guard. Mazzy Star makes some of the most beautiful and heartbreaking music I've ever had the joy of listening to. Every note is shrouded in longing and Hope's voice seems to dance along with them flawlessly. Mazzy Star has become folk heros for those of us who are lost and alone. Mazzy Star's music is there to let us know that we are not alone. together we sing our sorrows and talk with the ghosts of our pasts. Buy this album.

Mazzy Star's Hope Sandavol is sort of like a female Johnny Cash on some strange trippy drug. It is strange and wonderful music. "Among My Swan" is Mazzy Star's best and very solid all the way through. Great Stuff!!

To truly understand Mazzy Star, I think you need to listen to this cd with the lights off or at least with your eyes closed. This is a great cd to put in after a breakup, on a rainy day, to relax to when you're depressed, feeling mellow, or, if you're into bands like Radiohead, The Doors, or anything psychdelic, I think you'll really be able to appreciate this Mazzy Star.


1. Disappear -Starts out very chilled, mellow and relaxed the minute you press play. The beat of the guitar and the chimes I can't even describe. It just sounds like sparkling rain. A sad one, but great to listen to if your in that kind of mood.

2. Flowers In December -Really pretty. Hope play harmonica on here and the sound of it made me love this song right away. The baseline also sounds great, and I love the lyrics. "Send me your flowers of your december, send me your dreams of candy wine."

3. Rhymes Of An Hour -Featured in the movie "Stealing Beauty" this one is very mellow and slow but grows on you after awhile. I seem to like it more each time I listen to it. The music sounds like it almost have some marraccas in it I believe.

4. Cry, Cry -If you felt the disappearing vibe on track one, you're going to definetly hear the crying vibe on here. This is such a real song you can almost see happening to you with a tearjearker chorus and lyrics.

5. Take Everything -Awesome guitar in here. ..and just like I explained with "Cry" and "Disappear," I also felt like the lyrics brilliantly fit the mood of the whole beat of this song. My favorite Mazzy Star song on here probably.

6. Still Cold -I think this one of the fastest songs on here, but I loved it right away. Starts out kind of quiet then gets a bit louder and then the guitars just shatter as soon as the chorus comes in. You can really feel what Hope is singing here too. One of their best!

7. All Your Sisters -I agree with what one of the other viewers posted on this one. I can definetly see myself listening to this on at beach at night. The sound of her voice I just can't describe it sounds so warm and soothing, and the lyrics in here are very mysterious, now what I expected to hear at all.

8. I've Been Let Down -A folksy mazzy song, melencholy, sounds a bit blues too, but it contains some great lyrics, and some beautiful harmonica. "Catch a train on a silver afternoon...."

9. Roseblood -I love this one. It's a song I believe about a girl who seems to be falling apart. There is also an awesome guitar solo at the end. This is definetly a standout Mazzy Star track in my opinion.

10. Happy -Has that sparkling wind chime beat that Disappear seemed to have. It's very mellow, soft, sweet, and has pretty lyrics. "Oceans pass my eyes, it shimmers and glows...."

11. Umbilical -A stream of consciousness, this song is completely all over the place. The lyrics are very pecuilar, but interesting, I suggest you look them up. This song starts out with a very hush organ at first but continues to get more and more distored in sound as it keeps playing.

12. Look On Down From The Bridge -Starts out with beautiful organ on this one as well. This song is very sad and very soft. I also agree with what another reviewer mentioned about it, I can definetly see this being played at someones funeral. A long, beautiful song.


I really suggest adding this to your collection of you're even thinking about it, you don't know what you're missing. This is one of the first Cd's I think of putting in when I down, or tired or just need to relax. Hope Sandovals whispery voice is like a lullaby, and David Roback on guitar leaves an amazing guitar with memorable solos I guarentee you will putting on repeat and wanting to learn how to play. If this band would have came out in the 70's, I bet they would have been on tour with The Doors. This is truly an underrated band.

The music is a dense tangle of acoustic murmurs and distorted whispers. The backwards drumming of 'Roseblood', the womb-throb of 'Umbilical' and the repetitive simplicity of 'Take Everything' all combine to create a sense of woozy distortion. A fog only occasionally punctuated by the mournful sighs of Hope herself.

She stands by her man, and it ends in tears ('Cry, Cry, Cry'); she turns on the charm and he ignores her ('Still Cold'); eventually she's forced to conclude 'I've Been Let Down'--again. Nothing it seems will alleviate her distress. Even a song ostensibly about good time ('Happy') is delivered with the resigned drone of a genuine pessimist.

Still, that's what we want. If you're going to wallow, might as well do it properly.

I am a fan of moody music probably because I am from the South and there's nothing here but a brooding moodiness. Though this album isn't depressing as it is berefth of the childish, bling bling of current pop hits that never inspired you to sit back and think. I especially like the track Roseblood and Flowers in December...Listening to this album on a long road trip is highly recommended. Instant therapy! For some strange reason it goes well as background music to reading a Kerouac novel.

Hazy, fuzzed out mellow-head, chilled on a rainy day, daydream about nothing at all. Hope Sandoval entrances with her ghostly pixie-ridden breathy vocals. Think a little bit of Sundays, a little bit of Cowboy Junkies, a little bit of Cocteau Twins, and maybe a touch of the Doors and you've got Mazzy Star. From the looks of the CD picture collage the band harkens back to the 70's groovy free love with go-go boots. They look and sound like they would be at home in Greenwich Village, Haight-Ashbury, or Hyde Park. The CD is summertime, coffee-house cool on a Sunday morning before the heat has come out. The first track "disappear" sounds like Marilyn Monroe breathy singing to a backing track of the Doors mellow drugged out haze. "Take Everything" is powerful. "All your Sisters" is perhaps the best track a nice minor mysterious song with strings. "Happy" isn't necessarily happy and the songs have a tendency to run together with a similar sound. Not that that's too bad of a thing. This CD won't have you up and dancing but it's perfect mellow-out music and works wonder for background reading music or a nice romantic dinner with the honey. Get this if you need to chill.

Among my swan is my favorite, Mazzy album aswell one of my all time favs.The album is a mix of dreamy and almost delusional vocals mumbling beautiful poetic lyrics and smooth smoky melodies that are hard to explain. their music is like a ghostly breeze that you can quite point out.