And, indeed, I will ask on my own account here, an idle question: which is better—cheap happiness or exalted sufferings? Well, which is better?---Fyodor Dostoevsky ---Notes from Underground Fyodor Dostoevsky ---Notes from Underground Even now, so many years later, all this is somehow a very evil memory. I have many evil memories now, but ... hadn’t I better end my “Notes” here? I believe I made a mistake in beginning to write them, anyway I have felt ashamed all the time I’ve been writing this story; so it’s hardly literature so much as a corrective punishment. Why, to tell long stories, showing how I have spoiled my life through morally rotting in my corner, through lack of fitting environment, through divorce from real life, and rankling spite in my underground world, would certainly not be interesting; a novel needs a hero, and all the traits for an anti-hero are expressly gathered together here, and what matters most, it all produces an unpleasant impression, for we are...
Hope
To be human is to be a miracle of evolution conscious of its own miraculousness — a consciousness beautiful and bittersweet, for we have paid for it with a parallel awareness not only of our fundamental improbability but of our staggering fragility, of how physiologically precarious our survival is and how psychologically vulnerable our sanity. To make that awareness bearable, we have evolved a singular faculty that might just be the crowning miracle of our consciousness: hope.--
Erich Fromm
Mazzy Star is an American alternative rock band formed in 1988 in Santa Monica, California, from remnants of the group Opal. Founding member David Roback's friend Hope Sandoval became the group's vocalist when Kendra Smith left Opal.Wikipedia
"I am homesick for a world that no longer exists."
Mazzy Star: Overview
Mazzy Star was an influential American alternative rock band formed in Santa Monica, California, in 1988. Emerging from the remnants of the neo-psychedelic band Opal, the group became a foundational pillar of the dream pop, slowcore, and alternative indie movements of the 1990s.
Key Members & Creative Core
Hope Sandoval:Lead vocalist, lyricist, and occasional acoustic guitarist/harmonica player, known for her distinctive, melancholic, and breathy delivery.
David Roback:Multi-instrumentalist, composer, and producer whose hazy, atmospheric guitar work defined the band’s sonic texture.
Essential Discography
Mazzy Star released four studio albums that captured a moody, cinematic, and hypnotic aesthetic:
She Hangs Brightly (1990)
Notable Tracks:"Halah", "Blue Flower"
Rooted in the 1980s Paisley Underground scene, mixing blues, folk drone, and shadowy psychedelia.
So Tonight That I Might See (1993)
Notable Tracks:"Fade Into You", "Into Dust", "Blue Light"
Featuring their definitive mainstream breakthrough hit, "Fade Into You", which earned heavy rotation on MTV and alternative radio, pushing the album to platinum status.
Among My Swan (1996)
Notable Tracks:"Flowers in December", "Roseblood"
Leaned heavily into a stripped-down, acoustic, and rustic American folk-noir atmosphere.
Seasons of Your Day (2013)
Notable Tracks: "California", "In the Kingdom"
A long-awaited reunion album that effortlessly recaptured their signature warm, unhurried, and immersive ambiance.
Legacy
Defined by a notoriously elusive and media-shy public presence, Mazzy Star rarely chased traditional pop stardom, instead cultivating a devoted cult following.Their signature blend of reverb-drenched slide guitars, hypnotic basslines, and Sandoval's haunting vocals created a blueprint for generations of dream pop, shoegaze, and indie artists.
Following the tragic passing of co-founder David Roback in February 2020, the band's active chapter officially concluded, leaving behind one of the most transportive bodies of work in modern alternative music.
