Through the Devil Softly
Encyclopedia
Through the Devil Softly is the second studio album from Hope Sandoval
& The Warm Inventions
. Recorded over a two-year period between 2007 and 2009 in Northern California
and Ireland
, the album was released by Nettwerk
on 28 September 2009 (see 2009 in music
) - eight years after the release of their previous studio album, Bavarian Fruit Bread
.
The set won critical acclaim for its dark and complex production, with the group employing unorthodox techniques such as sudden and abrupt time signature
shifts coupled with frequent use of "irrational" measure lengths, such as in "Satellite" (see audio sample). The production also utilized the use of intricate musical arrangements, with several songs on the album featuring no discernible choruses, such as "Sets the Blaze," "Trouble" and "Blue Bird."
"Golden Hair," a cover of the Syd Barrett
track from his 1970 album The Madcap Laughs
, was released with the March 2010 issue of Mojo
magazine. Originally an acoustic song set to the words of James Joyce
's poem "Lean Out of the Window", the track was radically altered and rearranged into a psychedelic rock
piece, extending the original's duration from under two-minutes to over 6:30. On August 10, 2010, the song was released as a non-album single, backed with the b-side "Suddenly Beside You." The track served as the closing encore for every Warm Inventions show since its release.
in 2001, Sandoval performed both lead and background vocals on projects by numerous other artists, most notably lead vocals on "Killing Smile" and "Help Yourself" on the 2002 album Scorpio Rising
by Death In Vegas
and the "Hope Sandoval Version" of Air's "Cherry Blossom Girl
" in 2004. Sandoval also contributed backing vocals to the track "Angels' Share" found on the 2004 self-titled
debut album by Vetiver
. As well as these, the vocals found on the album version of Mazzy Star
's "Fade Into You
" were used to create a new remix of the song by Richard X
. The song, which also features vocals from Jarvis Cocker
of the band Pulp
, was re-titled "Into You" and released on his 2003 album Richard X Presents His X-Factor Vol. 1
.
On November 3, 2003, Sandoval and Colm Ó Cíosóig performed live at the Queen Elizabeth Hall
as part of the 60th birthday celebration held for seminal folk musician Bert Jansch
. The duo were joined on stage by Mazzy Star co-founder David Roback
. This is the only known occasion since Mazzy Star's European tour of 2000 where Sandoval and Roback have shared a stage together. Meanwhile, Sandoval and Jansch recorded together on two separate occasions prior to this event. Jansch performed guitar on two tracks found on Bavarian Fruit Bread
, "Butterfly Mornings" and "Charlotte," while Sandoval had contributed lead vocals and wrote lyrics to the track "All This Remains" on Jansch's 2002 album Edge Of A Dream
.
Following this event, Sandoval and Roback — as well as Ó Cíosóig and his former My Bloody Valentine band-mate Kevin Shields
— appeared on the 2005 debut album I Killed My Best Friend
by Le Volume Courbe
, performing instrumentation for the tracks "Harmony" and "Papillon de Nuit."
Later in 2005, Sandoval and Ó Cíosóig relocated to the Bay Area
of San Francisco with the intention of taking an extended hiatus from recording and touring. In an interview with the San Francisco Examiner in 2009 she stated, "[...] we had a blast. We didn’t want to go at all, we thought we’d be miserable. But we ended up having so much fun there. We moved into a really amazing new house and we had parties, parties every weekend, with old friends popping in all the time. For some reason, everybody wanted to hang out with us."
to officially begin work on a follow-up to Bavarian Fruit Bread. By the middle of 2008, an albums worth of material had been recorded but Sandoval later remarked that, at this point, the album was "missing certain ingredients ... but we had time to really think about it because Colm went back out on tour with Kevin [Shields, of My Bloody Valentine]." Ó Cíosóig concluded, "[...] like when you're making a meal, and you taste it and there's that one ingredient that's not there. And when you finally add that extra ingredient, it makes it whole. So me going on tour gave us time to really digest it and add all the right things." In May 2008, Ó Cíosóig rejoined My Bloody Valentine for a 4-month long reunion tour, where he performed at festivals through-out Europe, Japan and New York, followed by several dates at smaller venues through-out the U.S. and Canada. Following this tour, Sandoval and Ó Cíosóig resumed recording together in the Wicklow Mountains
in Éire, where they were joined in studio for the first time by Dirt Blue Gene, a band that would later act as their touring band and with whom the majority of the album would be re-recorded. Final recording sessions took place in Sonoma County
.
The release of the album was promoted in the U.S. with a 23-date tour running from September 18 to October 22, which was followed by a shorter 9-date tour of Europe running from October 29 to November 8. Following this, rumours of an impending follow-up album quickly started to circulate on the internet after confirmation from a source that the band had entered a studio on November 25 to record new material.
The Japanese edition of the album was released on January 20, 2010 by Imperial Records
, in co-operation with Nettwerk. This edition contains an unreleased bonus track, "The Buffalo."
Hope Sandoval's vocal contribution to Massive Attack
's Heligoland album, "Paradise Circus," was released globally on February 8, 2010, while an X-rated film vignette, directed by Toby Dye and featuring one-time pornographic actress Georgina Spelvin
, was released to promote the single. Elsewhere, Hope Sandoval & The Warm Invention's cover of the Syd Barrett
track "Golden Hair" was released with the March 2010 issue of Mojo
magazine. It was announced that the track was to be released as a b-side to "Trouble," a single to be released later in both digital and 7" vinyl formats. A music video for "Trouble" was released on Q magazine
's website at the beginning of April, where it was also named "Track of the Day." However, on August 10, 2010, "Golden Hair" was released as a stand-alone single with its own exclusive b-side — "Suddenly Beside You" — and was released solely as a digital download on 7Digital.
The group began the second leg of tour dates on May 6 with 6 dates in Ireland and the U.K. — including a date at the All Tomorrow's Parties Festival
in Minehead, Somerset
, curated by The Simpsons
creator Matt Groening
— followed by a date at the San Miguel Primavera Sound Festival
in Barcelona
and a further 4 dates in Australia
which took them to Brisbane
, Sydney
, Melbourne
and Perth
. From August 6–14, the group performed at various festivals through-out Europe, including the Big Chill Festival
held at Eastnor Castle
in the U.K., the Dranouter Festival
in Belgium
, the Paradiso Festival
in Holland, the Vega Festival in Denmark
and the Le Route Du Rock Festival in Saint-Malo
, France
. The group also performed September 5 at Kutsher's Country Club in Monticello
, New York as part of the Jim Jarmusch
-curated All Tomorrow's Parties Festival. The final confirmed date of this current tour took place on September 7 at the Great American Music Hall
in San Francisco.
Tim Sendra of AllMusic opined that the album "[sounds] like it was recorded at 2:00 a.m. in the middle of the kind of dream you never want to wake up from," and commented that Sandoval's voice "is exactly as beguiling and bewitching as ever." He also noted that "while this album doesn't exactly scream Top 40 or boast massive singalong choruses, tracks like "For the Rest of Your Life," "Trouble," and "Fall Aside" have more of a sense of melody and forward motion [than the first Warm Inventions record], and "There's a Willow" comes magically close to a straightforward Mazzy Star-like gem," before summarising that "there is a depth of sound on the record that makes it seem like a deeply felt work of art. It sounds like it was worth the wait for Sandoval and Ó Cíosóig and it's a welcome return for fans of her music, and also for fans of late-night, melancholy balladry that will break your heart and ease you gently into dreams," giving the album a 3.5/5 rating.
Mark Powell of Drowned In Sound
summarised his review by stating, "it doesn’t do this record a disservice to say that - from the broody amethyst tones of the cover art, right down to the final scrapes of mournful cello on "Sets The Blaze", or the old-time wireless crackle of pointedly Lynchian
closer "Satellite" - Through the Devil Softly is an album whose drowsy currents you’ll want to bob far away on, with no immediate concern over getting back," before giving the album an 8/10 rating. Album closer "Satellite" was also highlighted by NME
magazine's Emily Mackey, who commented that the track "sounds like Billie Holiday
's final radio transmission to troubled earthlings from her home beyond the stars, the gentlest, most desultory of strums and glances of keys backing Hope's vocal," before giving the album a 7/10 rating.
In one of the most negative reviews available online, Spin
's Spencer Kornhaber commented that "a close listen reveals fine details, like the waterlogged, Eastern-tinged strumming of "Fall Aside" or the ghostly harmonies of "Blanchard," but to most listeners, though, Through the Devil Softly will simply function as a collection of breathily perfect lullabies," before awarding the album a 3/5 rating.
Joe Tangari from Pitchfork Media
noted that "you get the sense of her [Sandoval] wandering through some abandoned, former gold-rush town, singing quietly to herself as the tumbleweeds bounce by." Tangari later commented, "one of the most interesting textures is found on "For the Rest of Your Life", which sounds constructed on a loop of an echoing, muted pick slide on the E string of a guitar. As the song fades after the verses it sounds as if it's wandering off into a void. That void is never far away on this record. Even at its warmest, there are ghosts in the air and cobwebs in the corners." Album closer "Satellite" was again highlighted, with Tangari commenting that Sandoval and Ó Cíosóig "take that distance to an extreme on muffled closer "Satellite," which is filtered to sound as if it's creaking out of the speakers after traveling for light years on the back of a radio wave. It opens and closes with the sound of waves on a beach. It's a pretty end for a pretty record, one that will put Mazzy Star fans in a comfortably familiar place and will probably just feel comfortable to everyone else. There's no real standout track - no "Fade Into You" for this decade - but it's a good listen while it lasts, a thing of slow, sad grace," awarding the album a 6.7/10 rating.
chart, selling 3,423 copies its first week.
Hope Sandoval
Hope Sandoval is an American singer-songwriter who is the lead singer for Mazzy Star and Hope Sandoval & the Warm Inventions....
& The Warm Inventions
Hope Sandoval & the Warm Inventions
Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions is an independent alternative/dream pop band composed of Hope Sandoval from the dormant band Mazzy Star and Colm Ó Cíosóig of My Bloody Valentine. Their first album Bavarian Fruit Bread was released in 2001. Bass player Alan Browne from Irish band Dirt Blue Gene...
. Recorded over a two-year period between 2007 and 2009 in Northern California
Northern California
Northern California is the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. The San Francisco Bay Area , and Sacramento as well as its metropolitan area are the main population centers...
and Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
, the album was released by Nettwerk
Nettwerk
The Nettwerk Music Group is the umbrella company for Nettwerk Management, Nettwerk Records, Nettwerk One Publishing, Nutone Records, and Artwerk. With over 150 employees, the Vancouver-based company has offices in New York, Los Angeles, London, Boston, Nashville, and Hamburg...
on 28 September 2009 (see 2009 in music
2009 in music
The following is a list of notable events and releases in 2009 in music. Susan Boyle's album I Dreamed a Dream became the biggest selling album in the world for 2009, selling 8.3 million copies in five weeks; more than any other artist's in the whole year...
) - eight years after the release of their previous studio album, Bavarian Fruit Bread
Bavarian Fruit Bread
Bavarian Fruit Bread is the debut album from Hope Sandoval, former vocalist of Mazzy Star, and Colm Ó Cíosóig, former drummer of My Bloody Valentine, released under the name Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions on October 23, 2001 by Sanctuary Records in the United States and on November 5, 2001 by...
.
The set won critical acclaim for its dark and complex production, with the group employing unorthodox techniques such as sudden and abrupt time signature
Time signature
The time signature is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each measure and which note value constitutes one beat....
shifts coupled with frequent use of "irrational" measure lengths, such as in "Satellite" (see audio sample). The production also utilized the use of intricate musical arrangements, with several songs on the album featuring no discernible choruses, such as "Sets the Blaze," "Trouble" and "Blue Bird."
"Golden Hair," a cover of the Syd Barrett
Syd Barrett
Syd Barrett , born Roger Keith Barrett, was an English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and painter, best remembered as a founding member of the band Pink Floyd. He was the lead vocalist, guitarist and primary songwriter during the band's psychedelic years, providing major musical and stylistic...
track from his 1970 album The Madcap Laughs
The Madcap Laughs
The Madcap Laughs is an album by British singer/songwriter Syd Barrett, released on 3 January 1970. It was his first solo album after being replaced in the band Pink Floyd by his old school friend David Gilmour.- History :...
, was released with the March 2010 issue of Mojo
Mojo (magazine)
MOJO is a popular music magazine published initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer, monthly in the United Kingdom. Following the success of the magazine Q, publishers Emap were looking for a title which would cater for the burgeoning interest in classic rock music...
magazine. Originally an acoustic song set to the words of James Joyce
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...
's poem "Lean Out of the Window", the track was radically altered and rearranged into a psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music that is inspired or influenced by psychedelic culture and attempts to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues rock bands in United States and the United Kingdom...
piece, extending the original's duration from under two-minutes to over 6:30. On August 10, 2010, the song was released as a non-album single, backed with the b-side "Suddenly Beside You." The track served as the closing encore for every Warm Inventions show since its release.
Background
After the release of Bavarian Fruit BreadBavarian Fruit Bread
Bavarian Fruit Bread is the debut album from Hope Sandoval, former vocalist of Mazzy Star, and Colm Ó Cíosóig, former drummer of My Bloody Valentine, released under the name Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions on October 23, 2001 by Sanctuary Records in the United States and on November 5, 2001 by...
in 2001, Sandoval performed both lead and background vocals on projects by numerous other artists, most notably lead vocals on "Killing Smile" and "Help Yourself" on the 2002 album Scorpio Rising
Scorpio Rising (Death in Vegas album)
-Singles:* "Leather"/"Girls" and "XXX" * "Hands Around My Throat" * "Scorpio Rising"...
by Death In Vegas
Death in Vegas
Death in Vegas are a psychedelic rock and electronic rock band from the United Kingdom, comprising two permanent members: Richard Fearless and Tim Holmes...
and the "Hope Sandoval Version" of Air's "Cherry Blossom Girl
Cherry Blossom Girl
"Cherry Blossom Girl" is an electronica song written by Air for their 2004 album Talkie Walkie. The song is the album's second track, and was released as its first single. Written in C-sharp minor, it opens up with bowed vibraphone, drum machines, and fingerpicked acoustic guitar, which are soon...
" in 2004. Sandoval also contributed backing vocals to the track "Angels' Share" found on the 2004 self-titled
Vetiver (album)
Vetiver is the debut album by Vetiver, released in 2004 on DiCristina.-Track listing:#"Oh Papa" – 2:38#"Without a Song" – 4:36#"Farther On" – 2:49#"Amour Fou" With Devendra Banhart – 4:34#"Los Pajaros del Rio" With Devendra Banhart – 3:44...
debut album by Vetiver
Vetiver (band)
Vetiver are an American folk band headed by songwriter Andy Cabic.- History :Cabic was a member of the Greensboro, North Carolina indie rock band The Raymond Brake who released some records on the now defunct Simple Machines label. He formed Vetiver after moving to San Francisco. The band...
. As well as these, the vocals found on the album version of Mazzy Star
Mazzy Star
Mazzy Star is an American alternative rock band formed in Santa Monica, California, in 1989 from the group Opal, a collaboration of guitarist David Roback and bassist Kendra Smith...
's "Fade Into You
Fade into You
"Fade Into You" was the highest charting song from alternative rock/dream pop group Mazzy Star. The song was written by lyricist Hope Sandoval and composer David Roback, who also served as producer. The song made the Top 5 of Billboard's Modern Rock chart in 1994, peaking at number three, and is...
" were used to create a new remix of the song by Richard X
Richard X
Richard Philips, best known by his stage name Richard X, is a British songwriter and music producer. Gaining attention as a pioneer of the bootleg craze, Richard X has earned success as a producer and remixer. He has helmed hit singles for artists including Annie, Kelis, Liberty X, Rachel Stevens...
. The song, which also features vocals from Jarvis Cocker
Jarvis Cocker
Jarvis Branson Cocker is an English musician and frontman for the band Pulp. Through his work with the band, Cocker became a figurehead of the Britpop movement of the mid-1990s. Following Pulp's hiatus Cocker has led a successful solo career...
of the band Pulp
Pulp (band)
Pulp are an English alternative rock band formed in Sheffield in 1978. Their lineup consists of Jarvis Cocker , Russell Senior , Candida Doyle , Mark Webber , Steve Mackey and Nick Banks ....
, was re-titled "Into You" and released on his 2003 album Richard X Presents His X-Factor Vol. 1
Richard X Presents His X-Factor Vol. 1
Richard X Presents His X-Factor Vol. 1 is the debut compilation album by British pop producer Richard X. The album features 15 tracks all produced by Richard X, most of which feature guest vocals....
.
On November 3, 2003, Sandoval and Colm Ó Cíosóig performed live at the Queen Elizabeth Hall
Queen Elizabeth Hall
The Queen Elizabeth Hall is a music venue on the South Bank in London, United Kingdom that hosts daily classical, jazz, and avant-garde music and dance performances. The QEH forms part of Southbank Centre arts complex and stands alongside the Royal Festival Hall, which was built for the Festival...
as part of the 60th birthday celebration held for seminal folk musician Bert Jansch
Bert Jansch
Herbert "Bert" Jansch was a Scottish folk musician and founding member of the band Pentangle. He was born in Glasgow and came to prominence in London in the 1960s, as an acoustic guitarist, as well as a singer-songwriter...
. The duo were joined on stage by Mazzy Star co-founder David Roback
David Roback
David Roback is a guitarist and songwriter best known as a member of the duo Mazzy Star.Roback grew up in Los Angeles and attended Palisades High School, graduating in 1975. He was a classmate and neighbor of John Hoffs, the brother of Susanna Hoffs, who would eventually become the lead singer of...
. This is the only known occasion since Mazzy Star's European tour of 2000 where Sandoval and Roback have shared a stage together. Meanwhile, Sandoval and Jansch recorded together on two separate occasions prior to this event. Jansch performed guitar on two tracks found on Bavarian Fruit Bread
Bavarian Fruit Bread
Bavarian Fruit Bread is the debut album from Hope Sandoval, former vocalist of Mazzy Star, and Colm Ó Cíosóig, former drummer of My Bloody Valentine, released under the name Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions on October 23, 2001 by Sanctuary Records in the United States and on November 5, 2001 by...
, "Butterfly Mornings" and "Charlotte," while Sandoval had contributed lead vocals and wrote lyrics to the track "All This Remains" on Jansch's 2002 album Edge Of A Dream
Edge of a Dream
Edge of a Dream is the twenty-second album by Scottish folk musician Bert Jansch, released in 2002.The title track is given a rock treatment, and two tracks are baroque instrumentals. The remaining songs are roughly equally divided between bluesy numbers and folky ones. The album features Bernard...
.
Following this event, Sandoval and Roback — as well as Ó Cíosóig and his former My Bloody Valentine band-mate Kevin Shields
Kevin Shields
Kevin Patrick Shields is an American-born, Irish vocalist, guitarist, and producer of alternative rock band My Bloody Valentine....
— appeared on the 2005 debut album I Killed My Best Friend
I Killed My Best Friend
I Killed My Best Friend is the 2005 debut album from Le Volume Courbe. It was produced by Charlotte Marionneau and features contributions from Hope Sandoval, Kevin Shields, David Roback, and Colm Ó Cíosóig.-Track listing:#"Harmony"#"Papillon de Nuit"...
by Le Volume Courbe
Le Volume Courbe
Le Volume Courbe is a band by French-born, London-based singer/songwriter, Charlotte Marionneau. "Le Volume Courbe" was a name of a sculpture by a friend of Marionneau's....
, performing instrumentation for the tracks "Harmony" and "Papillon de Nuit."
Later in 2005, Sandoval and Ó Cíosóig relocated to the Bay Area
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...
of San Francisco with the intention of taking an extended hiatus from recording and touring. In an interview with the San Francisco Examiner in 2009 she stated, "[...] we had a blast. We didn’t want to go at all, we thought we’d be miserable. But we ended up having so much fun there. We moved into a really amazing new house and we had parties, parties every weekend, with old friends popping in all the time. For some reason, everybody wanted to hang out with us."
Recording
Sometime in 2007, the pair moved to a new residence in BerkeleyBerkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
to officially begin work on a follow-up to Bavarian Fruit Bread. By the middle of 2008, an albums worth of material had been recorded but Sandoval later remarked that, at this point, the album was "missing certain ingredients ... but we had time to really think about it because Colm went back out on tour with Kevin [Shields, of My Bloody Valentine]." Ó Cíosóig concluded, "[...] like when you're making a meal, and you taste it and there's that one ingredient that's not there. And when you finally add that extra ingredient, it makes it whole. So me going on tour gave us time to really digest it and add all the right things." In May 2008, Ó Cíosóig rejoined My Bloody Valentine for a 4-month long reunion tour, where he performed at festivals through-out Europe, Japan and New York, followed by several dates at smaller venues through-out the U.S. and Canada. Following this tour, Sandoval and Ó Cíosóig resumed recording together in the Wicklow Mountains
Wicklow Mountains
The Wicklow Mountains form the largest continuous upland area in Ireland. They occupy the whole centre of County Wicklow and stretch outside its borders into Counties Carlow, Wexford and Dublin. Where the mountains extend into County Dublin, they are known locally as the Dublin Mountains...
in Éire, where they were joined in studio for the first time by Dirt Blue Gene, a band that would later act as their touring band and with whom the majority of the album would be re-recorded. Final recording sessions took place in Sonoma County
Sonoma County, California
Sonoma County, located on the northern coast of the U.S. state of California, is the largest and northernmost of the nine San Francisco Bay Area counties. Its population at the 2010 census was 483,878. Its largest city and county seat is Santa Rosa....
.
Release and promotion
After almost 3 years of complete public inactivity from Sandoval, the track "Wild Roses" was released without prior notice or advertisement on the Air France compilation In The Air on June 29, 2008. This compilation was initially released in a limited capacity as a promotional CD, while a more general release was later given to the compilation digitally on places such as iTunes and Amazon. Over a year passed before the albums first official single, "Blanchard," was released as a one-track digital download on August 4, 2009. Almost immediately following the announcement that the second Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions record would be released by Nettwerk, album track "Trouble" was released as a free-download on their website.The release of the album was promoted in the U.S. with a 23-date tour running from September 18 to October 22, which was followed by a shorter 9-date tour of Europe running from October 29 to November 8. Following this, rumours of an impending follow-up album quickly started to circulate on the internet after confirmation from a source that the band had entered a studio on November 25 to record new material.
The Japanese edition of the album was released on January 20, 2010 by Imperial Records
Teichiku Records
Teichiku Records is a Japanese record label, run by the Teichiku Entertainment company, that specialises in enka, kayōkyoku, and similar music. Teichiku is an abbreviation for , the former name of the company...
, in co-operation with Nettwerk. This edition contains an unreleased bonus track, "The Buffalo."
Hope Sandoval's vocal contribution to Massive Attack
Massive Attack
Massive Attack are an English DJ and trip hop duo from Bristol, England consisting of Robert "3D" Del Naja and Grant "Daddy G" Marshall. Working with co-producers, as well as various session musicians and guest vocalists, they make records and tour live. The duo are considered to be of the trip...
's Heligoland album, "Paradise Circus," was released globally on February 8, 2010, while an X-rated film vignette, directed by Toby Dye and featuring one-time pornographic actress Georgina Spelvin
Georgina Spelvin
Georgina Spelvin is the stage name of Michelle Graham, a former American pornographic actress who is best known for her appearance in the classic film The Devil in Miss Jones.-Early life:...
, was released to promote the single. Elsewhere, Hope Sandoval & The Warm Invention's cover of the Syd Barrett
Syd Barrett
Syd Barrett , born Roger Keith Barrett, was an English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and painter, best remembered as a founding member of the band Pink Floyd. He was the lead vocalist, guitarist and primary songwriter during the band's psychedelic years, providing major musical and stylistic...
track "Golden Hair" was released with the March 2010 issue of Mojo
Mojo (magazine)
MOJO is a popular music magazine published initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer, monthly in the United Kingdom. Following the success of the magazine Q, publishers Emap were looking for a title which would cater for the burgeoning interest in classic rock music...
magazine. It was announced that the track was to be released as a b-side to "Trouble," a single to be released later in both digital and 7" vinyl formats. A music video for "Trouble" was released on Q magazine
Q (magazine)
Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom.Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology...
's website at the beginning of April, where it was also named "Track of the Day." However, on August 10, 2010, "Golden Hair" was released as a stand-alone single with its own exclusive b-side — "Suddenly Beside You" — and was released solely as a digital download on 7Digital.
The group began the second leg of tour dates on May 6 with 6 dates in Ireland and the U.K. — including a date at the All Tomorrow's Parties Festival
All Tomorrow's Parties (music festival)
All Tomorrow's Parties is a music festival which takes place at Camber Sands holiday camp in East Sussex and Butlin's holiday camp in Minehead, Somerset, England....
in Minehead, Somerset
Minehead
Minehead is a coastal town and civil parish in Somerset, England. It lies on the south bank of the Bristol Channel, north-west of the county town of Taunton, from the border with the county of Devon and in proximity of the Exmoor National Park...
, curated by The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
creator Matt Groening
Matt Groening
Matthew Abram "Matt" Groening is an American cartoonist, screenwriter, and producer. He is the creator of the comic strip Life in Hell as well as two successful television series, The Simpsons and Futurama....
— followed by a date at the San Miguel Primavera Sound Festival
Primavera Sound Festival
San Miguel Primavera Sound, commonly known as Primavera Sound or simply Primavera, is an annual music festival which takes place in Barcelona, Spain in late May and, in some years, early June...
in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
and a further 4 dates in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
which took them to Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
, Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, Melbourne
City of Melbourne
The City of Melbourne is a Local Government Area in Victoria, Australia, located in the central city area of Melbourne. The city has an area of 36 square kilometres and has an estimated population of 93,105 people. The city's motto is "Vires acquirit eundo" which means "She gathers strength as she...
and Perth
Perth, Western Australia (suburb)
Perth is a locality covering the central inner-city area and central business district of the Perth, Western Australia metropolitan region. Perth is split between the City of Perth and the City of Vincent local authorities. Perth was named after Perth, Scotland.-Built environment:The dominant land...
. From August 6–14, the group performed at various festivals through-out Europe, including the Big Chill Festival
The Big Chill (music festival)
The Big Chill is an annual festival of alternative, dance and chill-out music and comedy, held in the grounds of Eastnor Castle during early August...
held at Eastnor Castle
Eastnor Castle
Eastnor Castle is a 19th century mock castle, two miles from the town of Ledbury in Herefordshire, England, by the village of Eastnor. It was founded by John Cocks, 1st Earl Somers as his stately home and continues to be inhabited by his descendents. Currently in residence is the family of...
in the U.K., the Dranouter Festival
Folk Dranouter
Folk Dranouter is a yearly folk festival spanning four days at the beginning of August in the Belgian village Dranouter. Since 2005, a second, smaller festival, Dranouter aan zee is organised in De Panne on the beach near the end of April....
in Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, the Paradiso Festival
Paradiso (Amsterdam)
Paradiso is an iconic rock music venue and cultural center in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.-History:It is housed in a converted former church building that dates from the nineteenth century and that was used until 1965 as the meeting hall for a liberal Dutch religious group known as the "Vrije...
in Holland, the Vega Festival in Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
and the Le Route Du Rock Festival in Saint-Malo
Saint-Malo
Saint-Malo is a walled port city in Brittany in northwestern France on the English Channel. It is a sub-prefecture of the Ille-et-Vilaine.-Demographics:The population can increase to up to 200,000 in the summer tourist season...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. The group also performed September 5 at Kutsher's Country Club in Monticello
Monticello
Monticello is a National Historic Landmark just outside Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was the estate of Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence, third President of the United States, and founder of the University of Virginia; it is...
, New York as part of the Jim Jarmusch
Jim Jarmusch
James R. "Jim" Jarmusch is an American independent film director, screenwriter, actor, producer, editor and composer. Jarmusch has been a major proponent of independent cinema, particularly during the 1980s and 1990s.-Early life:...
-curated All Tomorrow's Parties Festival. The final confirmed date of this current tour took place on September 7 at the Great American Music Hall
Great American Music Hall
The Great American Music Hall is a concert hall in San Francisco, California. It is located on O'Farrell Street in the Tenderloin neighborhood on the same block as the Mitchell Brothers O'Farrell Theater...
in San Francisco.
Critical reception
Initial critical response to Through the Devil Softly was generally positive. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an average score of 70 out of 100, based on 23 reviews.Tim Sendra of AllMusic opined that the album "[sounds] like it was recorded at 2:00 a.m. in the middle of the kind of dream you never want to wake up from," and commented that Sandoval's voice "is exactly as beguiling and bewitching as ever." He also noted that "while this album doesn't exactly scream Top 40 or boast massive singalong choruses, tracks like "For the Rest of Your Life," "Trouble," and "Fall Aside" have more of a sense of melody and forward motion [than the first Warm Inventions record], and "There's a Willow" comes magically close to a straightforward Mazzy Star-like gem," before summarising that "there is a depth of sound on the record that makes it seem like a deeply felt work of art. It sounds like it was worth the wait for Sandoval and Ó Cíosóig and it's a welcome return for fans of her music, and also for fans of late-night, melancholy balladry that will break your heart and ease you gently into dreams," giving the album a 3.5/5 rating.
Mark Powell of Drowned In Sound
Drowned in Sound
DrownedinSound.com or DiS is a UK based music webzine financed by artist management company Silentway . The site is an editorially independent music website.-History:...
summarised his review by stating, "it doesn’t do this record a disservice to say that - from the broody amethyst tones of the cover art, right down to the final scrapes of mournful cello on "Sets The Blaze", or the old-time wireless crackle of pointedly Lynchian
David Lynch
David Keith Lynch is an American filmmaker, television director, visual artist, musician and occasional actor. Known for his surrealist films, he has developed his own unique cinematic style, which has been dubbed "Lynchian", and which is characterized by its dream imagery and meticulous sound...
closer "Satellite" - Through the Devil Softly is an album whose drowsy currents you’ll want to bob far away on, with no immediate concern over getting back," before giving the album an 8/10 rating. Album closer "Satellite" was also highlighted by NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
magazine's Emily Mackey, who commented that the track "sounds like Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing...
's final radio transmission to troubled earthlings from her home beyond the stars, the gentlest, most desultory of strums and glances of keys backing Hope's vocal," before giving the album a 7/10 rating.
In one of the most negative reviews available online, Spin
Spin (magazine)
Spin is a music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione Jr.-History:In its early years, the magazine was noted for its broad music coverage with an emphasis on college-oriented rock music and on the ongoing emergence of hip-hop. The magazine was eclectic and bold, if sometimes haphazard...
's Spencer Kornhaber commented that "a close listen reveals fine details, like the waterlogged, Eastern-tinged strumming of "Fall Aside" or the ghostly harmonies of "Blanchard," but to most listeners, though, Through the Devil Softly will simply function as a collection of breathily perfect lullabies," before awarding the album a 3/5 rating.
Joe Tangari from Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...
noted that "you get the sense of her [Sandoval] wandering through some abandoned, former gold-rush town, singing quietly to herself as the tumbleweeds bounce by." Tangari later commented, "one of the most interesting textures is found on "For the Rest of Your Life", which sounds constructed on a loop of an echoing, muted pick slide on the E string of a guitar. As the song fades after the verses it sounds as if it's wandering off into a void. That void is never far away on this record. Even at its warmest, there are ghosts in the air and cobwebs in the corners." Album closer "Satellite" was again highlighted, with Tangari commenting that Sandoval and Ó Cíosóig "take that distance to an extreme on muffled closer "Satellite," which is filtered to sound as if it's creaking out of the speakers after traveling for light years on the back of a radio wave. It opens and closes with the sound of waves on a beach. It's a pretty end for a pretty record, one that will put Mazzy Star fans in a comfortably familiar place and will probably just feel comfortable to everyone else. There's no real standout track - no "Fade Into You" for this decade - but it's a good listen while it lasts, a thing of slow, sad grace," awarding the album a 6.7/10 rating.
Accolades
- Ranked #43 on Bookmat's list of the Top 100 Albums Of '09.
- Ranked #26 on Lesinrocks's list of the Top 50 Albums Of 09.
- Ranked #94 on Piccadilly Records list of the Top 100 Albums Of '09.
- Ranked #35 on ClashMusicClash (magazine)Clash is a popular music and fashion magazine based in the United Kingdom. Its magazine title is published 12 times a year. It has a circulation of around 40,000....
's list of the Top 40 Albums Of '09. - Ranked among TéléramaTéléramaTélérama is a weekly French magazine owned by Le Monde S.A. Its primary contents are television and radio listings, though the magazine also prints film, theatre, music and book reviews, as well as cover stories and feature articles of cultural interest. The name is a contraction of its earlier...
's list of the Best 15 Albums Of '09.
Tracklisting
Release history
| Region | Date | Label | Format | Catalog |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages... |
September 28, 2009 | Nettwerk Records | CD Compact Disc The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,... |
5-037703-084827 |
| United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district... |
September 29, 2009 | Nettwerk Records | CD | 0-6700-30848-2-6 |
| Australia Australia Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area... |
September 30, 2009 | Shock Records | CD | 30848-2 |
| Japan Japan Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south... |
January 20, 2010 | Imperial Records | CD | TECI-24584 |
Sales and charts
The album debuted at number 160 on the U.S. Billboard 200Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
chart, selling 3,423 copies its first week.
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | U.S. Billboard 200 | 160 |
| Billboard Top Heatseekers | 6 | |
| Billboard Digital Album | 102 | |
| Billboard Alternative Album | 41 | |
| Billboard Alternative New Artist Album | 1 | |
| French Album Chart Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique The Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique is the inter-professional organization which protects the interests of the French record industry... |
69 |
Personnel
- Hope Sandoval — vocals, instrumentation, recording, producing, mixing, photography
- Colm Ó'Cíosóig — backing vocals, instrumentation, recording, producing, mixing
- Paul McQuillan — guitar
- Ji Young Moon — cello
- Suki Ewers — keyboards
- Sylvia Gomez — backing vocals
- With Dirt Blue Gene:
- Charles Cullen — guitar, slide guitar
- Dave Brennan — guitar
- Alan Browne — bass
- Mick Whelan — piano
- Nigel Cullen — drums
- Technical Personnel:
- Jim Putnam — mixing ("Wild Roses," "Lady Jessica and Sam" and "There's A Willow")
- Dave Trumfio — mixing ("Trouble")
- Mark Chaleki — mastering
External links
- Hope Sandoval Official Site
- MySpace.com/Hope Sandoval Official MySpace