Hope Sandoval (born June 24, 1966) is an American singer-songwriter who is the lead singer for Mazzy Star and Hope Sandoval & the Warm Inventions. Sandoval has stage-fright and prefers to play shows in near darkness with only a dim backlight.[1] Cameras are not allowed at her shows[2], and she is reputed "to be a woman of very few words".[3] Although she has collaborated with other artists, she states, "I like being alone and free to sing on my own and the time and vibe to create something. I get really, really anxious if I have to go into the studio with someone I don't know already." Massive Attack, for example, sent her "beautiful tracks", but they did not "meet up" for their collaboration.[4]
Some interpret her anxieties as "precious", and she has been criticized for being "willfully aloof", "hard to understand", "coy and child-like" and for "hiding behind her long, dark hair" during performances.[5] [6] In a rare instance of interacting with her audience members, during some technical difficulties at the 2009 Bowery Ballroom show in NYC, Sandoval stated, "I'm on the verge of throwing a tantrum" and apologized to her audience, "I'm really sorry, you guys." When asked by an audience member if she loved New York, she stated, "I absolutely fucking hate New York... but I love everyone who is here. I'm a country girl", alienating some fans with her bluntness.[7] [8]
Early life and career
Hope Sandoval comes from a large Mexican-American family in East Los Angeles, California. She attended Mark Keppel High School. In 1986, she formed a folk music duo called Going Home with Sylvia Gomez, and recorded one album produced by David Roback which was never released.
Opal and Mazzy Star
Sandoval started to sing and perform with the band Opal in the late 1980s alongside David Roback, and originally played second fiddle to long-time Roback collaborator Kendra Smith. At a gig in Hammersmith, UK, Smith stormed off stage after just a couple of songs, and the foundations of Mazzy Star were laid as Sandoval stepped up to take on the lead vocals. The two began writing together and renamed their alternative/dream pop band Mazzy Star.
The first Mazzy Star album, She Hangs Brightly was released in 1990. While not a commercial success, this album did establish Sandoval and David as a unique band with a sound that has since been often imitated.
They had what many consider a surprise breakthrough hit single released in October 1993. "Fade into You" — from their second album So Tonight That I Might See — was recorded one year before it became a success.
The tracks on the third Mazzy Star album, Among My Swan continue the sound and feel that the band established on the first two albums.
Post-Mazzy Star
After 1996, Sandoval began a career of working with other bands. She collaborated with a series of artists, including Air, Bert Jansch, Death in Vegas, Le Volume Courbe, Richard X, The Chemical Brothers, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Twilight Singers, Vetiver, and Massive Attack. Sandoval sings on The Chemical Brothers' "Asleep From Day" track on their Surrender album. She will appear on Massive Attack's next album, Heligoland (2010).[1]
Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions
Sandoval formed The Warm Inventions and released their first album called Bavarian Fruit Bread, in 2001. This album sounds little different in terms of theme, voice, and instrumentation from that of her work with Mazzy Star.
Subsequently, The Warm Inventions released three EPs but received very little commercial success, one video on MTV, and very little radio play.
Sandoval recorded a song, "Wild Roses", for a compilation CD released by Air France titled In The Air (2008).
Hope Sandoval and The Warm Inventions released their second album, Through the Devil Softly, on September 29, 2009.
References
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