MAZZY STAR / So Tonight That I Might See (1993)

My introduction to Mazzy Star's vocalist, Hope Sandoval, was on a Jesus & Mary Chain album. Her voice held a strange melancholic allure, so I sought out some Mazzy. Hope's vocal range is limited to mostly hushed whispers filled with languid emotion, but the music complements it beautifully, so it all works.
There's a Velvet Underground influence throughout, but it's less concerned with lifting you up and hurrying you away to some place new than it is with laying you down and comforting you with soft contradictions. It's a dreamy album for late nights when you don't care if the world outside your window ceases to exist, because you're in your comfort zone, and no one can take it away.

Songs of Note: Bells Ring; So Tonight That I Might See

4 true breaths out of 5