Seasons of Your Day

I was excited to learn that Mazzy Star, who hadn't made an album in 17 years, were reuniting. The result is Seasons of Your Day, and I'm sorry to say, after multiple listens, it's a disappointment.

Before listening, I went back and gave She Hangs Brightly, their 1990 masterpiece, a listen. That album had hooks galore, and made use of Hope Sandoval's sleepy voice effectively. But on Seasons of Your Day all the songs kind of blend together, and Sandoval seems to be nodding off during the recording.

The album kicks off with a church organ "In the Kingdom," one of the few places where there is diversity of sound. Most of the rest of the album consists of steel guitar and a chugging rhythm section. Only the song "Lay Myself Down" kicks it into an up-tempo mode. You'd think after 17 years the songwriting team of Sandoval and David Roback would have shown more variety.

Lyrically, the words are cryptic and poesy, like the thought expressed in a teenage girl's diary. This, from "California," is typical:

"I think I'll drift across the ocean now
Clouds look so clear in your eyes
Let me dream all my, let me dream all my friends"

Still, I didn't hate this record. The boozy sound can be good as background noise. It's just not very good for listening to while operating heavy machinery.