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Hope Sandoval and the Warm Inventions return with <i>Through the Devil Softly</i>

3:19 p.m. · July 9, 2009 · by Josiah Wolfson

Some of the best things in life take time. We may be used to constant updates, endless tours, and myriad releases from our favorite artists, but there are still some visionaries out there who stand apart from it all, working on their own time. It could be said that one of these latter artists is Hope Sandoval, the frontwoman of 90's alternative luminaries Mazzy Star (who themselves have taken their time, slowly working on the followup to Along Swan from 1996).

While Mazzy Star was slowing down around 2000, Hope Sandoval teamed up with Colm Ó Cíosóig of the similarly dormant My Bloody Valentine to form Hope Sandoval and the Warm Inventions. Their debut, Bavarian Fruit Bread, is a profound record of folky, psychedlic longing, a perfect blend of lush percussive backdrops and minimal string arrangments with breezy, introverted guitar folk, led by Sandoval's wispy, passionate voice. That this record appeared in 2001 is incredible for its feeling of timelessness.

Now, 8 years later, with minimal output in between (save a slew of collaborations with The Jesus & Mary Chain, Air, The Chemical Brothers, Massive Attack, Bert Jansch, and others), Hope Sandoval and the Warm Inventions return with the much anticipated follow up record, due out on September 15, via Nettwerk. It is called Through the Devil Softly, and you can already listen to a track from it called "Blanchard."