Mazzy Star is an American dream pop duo formed in Santa Monica, California in 1989 — Hope Sandoval's ethereal voice over David Roback's reverb-drenched guitar. So Tonight That I Might See (1993), home of Fade into You, is the record dream pop gets measured against. Roback died in 2020. Shop Mazzy Star vinyl, CDs, and reissues at Wax Trax Records.
Mazzy Star formed in Santa Monica, California in 1989 from the ashes of Opal (David Roback's earlier band with Kendra Smith). Hope Sandoval, who had previously been in the band Going Home with Sylvia Gomez, joined Roback after Opal dissolved. Their work has been active intermittently across multiple decades, with extended hiatus periods between releases. Their 1993 album So Tonight That I Might See - featuring the landmark single Fade into You - was a commercial breakthrough and has been widely cited as one of the foundational documents of dream pop as a recognized genre. After 1996's Among My Swan, the band entered an extended hiatus, returning in 2013 with Seasons of Your Day. David Roback died on February 24, 2020 at age 61, ending the band's active recording lifetime. Hope Sandoval has continued solo work as Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions.
Mazzy Star's sound is foundational to dream pop as a recognized genre - combining dream pop, indie rock, neo-psychedelia, alternative rock, slowcore, and indie folk with Hope Sandoval's distinctive ethereal vocal delivery, David Roback's atmospheric reverb-heavy guitar work, and arrangements drawing on classic 1960s folk rock, psychedelic rock, and broader American indie rock traditions.
Original Capitol Records pressings of the early-1990s Mazzy Star catalog are widely collected. Multiple anniversary editions, audiophile reissues, and the comprehensive Capitol/UMC reissue programs have been released.
Listeners new to Mazzy Star typically start with So Tonight That I Might See (1993).
