“At some point we’ll release more music”
as a new Mazzy star EP fades into view, the enigmatic duo remain heroically noncommital
When Jim Jarmusch curated the All Tomorrow’s Parties festival in New York in 2010, one of the first bands he booked were Mazzy star. Though it’s never been confirmed, it’s clear this must have been the encounter that inspired his languorous 2015 vampire movie,
Only Lovers Left Alive. It’s obvious when you think about it: Mazzy star are vampires. how else to explain the fact that hope sandoval doesn’t seem to have aged in the past two decades? or that they decided to take a 17-year break between releasing their third and fourth albums? If you’re immortal, 17 years must be the merest blink of an eye.
Because the stars have aligned – or because they got bored hanging out in Tangiers with Christopher Marlowe – the band have returned with a new EP, their first release in four years. As always with Mazzy star, the four songs on the “still” EP sound utterly classic, like ancient standards. But there’s also a subtle development in the Mazzy soundworld. Lead track “Quiet, The Winter harbour” couldn’t be the work of any other band, but with its stately piano chords it suggests that, in their fourth decade of existence, the band are finding new ways of conjuring deathless melancholy.
“This particular song really came out of the piano,” says David Roback from California, where he has now returned after a decade or so in scandinavia and London. “We’ve had other songs like that in the past, but we’ve always adapted them for electric organ. electric organ has always been a very big part of Mazzy star live. But songs like ‘Look on Down From The Bridge’ that we know of as organ songs were originally just piano and voice.”
“Quiet, The Winter harbour” sounds like it could have been recorded in the 19th century. In fact they played it at a gig in London in 2000. The second track on the EP, the heart-stopping, quintessentially Mazzy “That Way Again”, may have been performed live in 1994. It’s become clear that, although they profess to be writing and recording all the time, Mazzy star have a vast archive of songs they like to refine and let mature before being released into the wild. “Yes, there is a truth to that,” says Roback. “It’s like a really lovely wine cellar.” “I wish we had a wine cellar!” adds hope sandoval, in a rare glimpse of levity.
It’s fair to say that Mazzy star aren’t the most forthcoming of interviewees. The conversation is punctured by long, epic silences as questions echo through skype, across the Atlantic. even by the standards of rock interviewees, there is something regal about their ennui. What inspired them to release the new EP? “oh, we didn’t really think too much about it,” drawls hope. “We just got the songs together and decided to release them.” You’re playing the Vivid Festival in sydney in June – do you enjoy festivals? “Not really.” Is there likely to be a new album? “At some point we’ll release more music.”
Last year saw the death of both Mazzy star’s drummer of 30 years, Keith Mitchell, and their longtime stage manager Tom Cashen. has this encounter with mortality given the band a new sense of urgency? of course not. “We did lose some irreplaceable creative people,” says David with impeccable poise, as though in his time he has seen great cities rise and empires fall. “We really feel that they have contributed to our music and are still part of the music. We feel that tradition is continuing.”
“We didn’t really think too much about it. We just got the songs together and decided to release them” HOPE SANDOVAL