Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions- Suzanne EP (2002) MP3 & FLAC

"I don't think I'll come around, letting my hair hang down, making my way through your door, I ain't gonna do that no more. "

Released a year after Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions' debut, Bavarian Fruit Bread, had hit the stores, the Suzanne EP seemed something like an afterthought at the time, but in addition to recycling one of the album tracks as a single, it offers three b-sides, which, given the dearth of material from Sandoval, makes it well worth having. Though not as strong as the earlier EP, At the Doorway Again, it does feature the sultry "These Things," which finds Hope very much in Mazzy Star mode. Beautiful stuff.

Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions- At the Doorway Again EP (2000) MP3 & FLAC

"She's got a smile like a flower. She looks so fine by the hour."

Following the release of Among My Swan, Mazzy Star went on permanent hiatus in terms of recording new material, and it wasn't until 2000 that Hope Sandoval finally surfaced again with a new band, The Warm Inventions.  Essentially a collaboration with ex-My Bloody Valentine drummer Colm O'Ciosoig, At the Doorway Again retains the narcotic atmosphere of Hope's work in Mazzy Star, but, perhaps owing to David Roback's absence, the EP seem lighter in mood with less psychedelic overtones. The obvious highlight is "Around My Smile" which replaces Mazzy's psych gloom with a moody 50s-style guitar vamp, but the deliciously thick reverb is still in full force. The real gem, however, might be "Down the Steps," a gorgeous piano ballad featuring one of Sandoval's prettiest vocals (which is really saying something).