Hope...

Monday, September 28, 2009

Hope Sandoval has probably one of the most unique female voices to date. Her style was on the forefront of pushing the "dream pop" genre in the early 90's with then band Mazzy Star and continues to promote an eerie haunting essence through her solo project. Appropriately, her L.A. segment of the tour had landed on the Hollywood Forever Cemetery as the venue of choice, a suitable site to contribute towards the mystique-atmosphere of her drone sound. The performance itself was held in the masonic hall of the cemetery, a room plastered with classic movie posters ranging from the likes of The Shining, Star Wars, and A Clockwork Orange. Hope is actually a bit of a shy recluse and has performance/social anxiety, which means the whole room must be pitch black in order to make her feel less nervous about being exposed publicly. I forgot to mention the venue was also tagged with signs that read "Absolutely No Photography" but my camera was smuggled in anyway. There in the dark Hope emerged as two classic film projectors fired off sepia tone images of vintage female figures dancing 10 feet above her head. I found this to be both beautiful and spooky (since the old crypts and gravestones where right out the door) in an ongoing mental battle throughout the show. The Warm Interventions (Hope's backup band) manged consistent dreamy tones that might take you towards a suggestive David Lynch film soundtrack which again added to the mysticism of the whole setting. Hope can play some xylophone! Her tones often set you towards a pretty lullaby state that is very reminiscent of Radiohead or Sigur Ros. New Mazzy Star album is potentially on the horizon, but don't hold your breath.

0 comments:

Post a Comment