(Capitol)
Among My Swan is Mazzy Star's third album. The first album, She Hangs Brightly, slipped unnoticed past many, this reviewer included. On the other hand, a lot of people sat up and paid a lot of attention to their second album, So Tonight That I Might See.
Credit must go to the suits for not pressuring Dave Roeback and Hope Sandoval into cashing in on their new-found fame with a formula copy, but instead letting them take all the time they needed to work on the new album. In many ways, the gamble paid off: this album is not so different from So Tonight That I Might See. The bluesy fragility and country melancholia is still very much present; much of the percussion is nothing more than a simple tambourine, and the instrumentation hovers between an acoustic or electric guitar, with a few basslines or violins dotted here and there.
The album opens on a sleepy track "Disappear", with Hope sounding only half-convinced that the album has started, and a guitar doodling around upon waves of heavily distorted electric guitar way down in the mix. The second song, "Flowers in December" picks up, with acoustic guitar and tambourine providing the backdrop to a harmonica intro that sounds like the melody to The Go-Between's "Quiet Heart".
As the songs go by, it becomes clear that Mazzy Star are intent on pursuing a precise direction in their music. While the first album was a quirky patchwork of different writing styles, the second album slimmed down the variants and on this album they have reduced their margin of manoeuvre down to almost nothing. The first four songs blend into each other with little differentiation; all stripped down to the bare bones of delicate guitar noodlings, laid-back percussion and Hope's vocals. Which makes for excellent the-party's-over late night listening.
Which makes "Take Everything" a bit of a kicker. The song starts out much the same as the previous tracks, however, it builds up considerable intensity and lifts the album up a notch. Possibly due to William Reid returning a favour (Hope Sandoval added the vocals to the Jesus & Mary Chain track "Sometimes Always" on Stoned and Dethroned), to lay down a JMC guitar riff on the song.
Briefly, taking in the rest, "All Your Sisters" is an absolute gem. Down the minimalist path again, with only an acoustic guitar to accompany Hope. "I've Been Let Down" and "Look On Down From The Bridge" are the two most overtly country-sounding tracks. "Umbilical" is very much the song "So Tonight That I Might See, Part II". Same guitars going beserk in the background, exploding like fireworks; along with "Roseblood", with its reverse-gated guitar.
Among My Swan is an album that begs to be considered as a whole. It's not the sort of album to be heard in shuffle mode. It deserves to be listened to from start to finish to get the most out of it. That said, in all honesty, if you don't have the budget to both this and So Tonight That I Might See then I would class STTIMS as being more important. So get that first, and if you like it, you'll probably winding up purchasing Among My Swan anyway. You won't be disappointed.
Resources on the net: there isn't a lot out there. The best bet is to scan the newsgroup alt.music.mazzy-star for current information.
