Seasons of Your Day

No analysis, no interpretation, nothing to feel uncomfortable about here, just beautiful desolation. Mazzy Star was always a band to hide away with, and nothing's changed in 2013.

Its lyrical understatement and deliberately minimalist presentation may not excite newcomers, but those familiar with the languid delivery of Hope Sandoval and the teasing alternation of holding back and letting go that characterizes David Roback’s music, with and without his band mates, will recognize Mazzy Star’s perch between celestial elevation and shrouded descent.

Seasons of Your Day is a no-frills, no-fuss album from a band cocooned in their own impenetrable dreamworld, untouched by the passage of time.

As far as comeback albums go, Seasons Of Your Day doesn’t disappoint, but few songs truly stand out.

Those first three albums have always been easy to put on and enjoy, and now we have a fourth to go with them.

The unvarying mood can get a little tiring.

It’s the aural equivalent of sweet syrup—slow, molasses-y and utterly satisfying.

Mazzy Star steadfastly stick to their dusty, psych-folk, dream-pop tableaux on Seasons of Your Day. Yet it feels nothing like a '90s hangover; in fact, the touches of organ and pedal steel that open the album hint at Beach House's hazy indie-pop.

Mazzy Star’s M.O. is a barely present, ghostly ambiance, better sometimes in the background, but after nearly 20 years, a return demands more than essentially being the musical equivalent of late-night Sportscenter, something best enjoyed while drifting in and out of sleep.

It’s prime Mazzy Star, the work of a band that knows what it does well. And then does it beautifully

Sandoval and her collaborators may never modify the melancholy torch that they bear, but they keep that fire masterfully for those of us who still have a yen for patient, no-frills sounds that happen to serve as a miracle balm.

It makes for the best kind of comeback: equal parts return and reinvention.

Sandoval's voice remains an indescribably beautiful thing, while David Roback's guitar provides haunting backing.

In essence, the album is everything you could want, finding Mazzy Star older and wiser, but still as dreamy as ever.

It’s about as confounding as it is disappointing.

These may not be new songs, but their glazed melancholy does not disappoint.

The Californians still play ethereal tunes that could waft on forever.

Despite Mazzy Star sounding as good as they always have, Seasons Of Your Day only goes to show that the rest of the world has finally caught up with them.

For the most part this pensive, intriguingly restrained album marks a welcome, if overdue, return. [Oct 2013, p.91]

It is refreshing to hear Sandoval’s stunning vocals once again coupled with Roback’s guitars. The world is a better place for it.

There’s nothing particularly new here, nothing cutting edge, but there is beautiful, considered, genuine songwriting, and to greet such art with any kind of disdain would be nothing short of a travesty.

Their first album in almost two decades, David Roback and Hope Sandoval are on stunning form. [Oct 2013, p.71]

Mazzy Star may not have evolved much over the past 17 years, but Season Of Your Day proves they never, ever need to. [Oct 2013, p.88]