Track Listing

1. Blanchard
2. Wild Roses
3. For The Rest Of Your Life
4. Lady Jessica and Sam
5. Sets The Blaze
6. Thinking Like That
7. There\x{2019}s A Window
8. Trouble
9. Fall Aside
10. Blue Bird
11. Satellite

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #826 in Music
• Released on: 2009-09-28
• Number of discs: 1

CD Description
Ever since the release of Mazzy Star’s debut album She Hangs Brightly, Hope Sandoval has defined the sound and style of Californian psychedelic dream pop, her natural beauty and trademark sultry vocals on songs such as "Fade Into You" and "Into Dust" (currently soundtracking a Virgin Mobile TV and cinema campaign) helping to make her a modern day music icon.

Having collaborated in recent years with acts such as The Chemical Brothers, Massive Attack, Air, Jesus & Mary Chain, Death In Vegas and Bert Jansch, the revered singer finally returns with her long awaited post-Mazzy Star sophomore album, Through The Devil Softly, in partnership with Colm Ó Cíosóig of My Bloody Valentine.

Customer Reviews

It's a way of life
Through the Devil Softly - which was released today in Germany and comes out in the UK on Monday - is the second album from Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions, following three albums from the Hope-fronted Mazzy Star.

The music sounds even more woozy & muffled & stripped down than ever. Away with the cutsy glockenspiel, harmonica and trumpet from Bavarian Fruit Bread and in with the banjo plucking and more slide guitar. But Hope doesn't stray from her core sound; these 11 tracks feel like a natural continuation of the sound that has accompanied her since the early 1990s: languid, weary vocals, simple guitar-strumming, and an atmosphere of waking up from druggy sleep with your head still full of dreams.

The best description of her music that I've heard over the years is that of a cat stretching its paws out after the tenth nap of the day on a huge puffy bed. The curtains are reacting to the soft wind, and there are no clocks pulling you back into the monotony of work and day-to-day chores. There is simply the hazy "now" in which you can drift and drift.

Of course there will always be people who don't get her music - either with David Roback in Mazzy Star or here with My Bloody Valentine drummer Colm Ó Cíosóig. I remember NME calling the first Warm Inventions record "a piece of morphine-induced self-indulgence" and someone else saying that it was just "glorified mood music". What I think they don't get is that - and I'm aware this might sound absurd to some but - it's not just music, it almost represents a way of life. Listening to and treasuring songs like 'Fade Into You' and 'Take Everything' means not wanting to be a part of the rush and push of these work- and speed-obsessed times. It means not worrying about the passing of time or the inevitability of getting older (Hope said herself in a rare interview given recently that "I don't really notice the time. We don't keep track of the days and months. And the years.").

This album was recorded over the last few years in Northern California and the countryside of Wicklow County, Ireland (with only cows, a lake and a little pub for company, says Ó Cíosóig). Hope has also said that Mazzy Star are still together and a fourth album is "nearly finished". This autumn she's touring the USA and Europe with The Warm Inventions, ending the stretch of dates on the 8th November in the Queen Elizabeth Hall.

Hope - it's great to have you back!

Standouts (IMO): Blue Bird ("let me go..."), Trouble, Blanchard, Wild Roses

Cuddle-up Goth
This is perfect chill out music for those who love the darker things in life. Listening to this, i yearned for rain lashing at the windows, cold nights and the company of someone black clad and delicious. beautifully strange and strangely beautiful this is a much needed addition to most eclectic collections. Guitar is more prominent on this album than the Mazzy Star offerings, with some laid back, almost bluesy slide. Hope Sandoval's breathy but powerfully haunting voice drifts and swoops, in, out, around and above the melody. The addition of cello and drums creats a syncopated and langourous heart beat. The entire album is very similar in tempo and tone but this is not a criticism. this is music to put you in a trance like, languid and happy mood. quite simply beautiful.

Hope's Sandoval second album
Hope Sandoval's second album once again captures her sublime dreamy voice and carries on where Bavarian Fruitbread left off. It should please Mazzy Star fans but she has definitely created her own sound.I loved listening to new album and its been worth the long wait. Although for me Hope can do no wrong. Kev D