Hope Sandoval & the Warm Inventions

It's been eight years since former Mazzy Star vocalist Hope Sandoval and writing partner Colm " Cíosóig (drummer for My Bloody Valentine) released their debut, Bavarian Fruit Bread. Follow-up Through the Devil Softly finds Hope and Colm hopeful and calm, as lead-off track "Blanchard" sets the mood via an impressive display of trappist-like musings that choose to be both beautiful and brainy. Album standouts "For the Rest of Your Life" and "Trouble" take camel-led rhythms and impassioned whisper vocals along for the ride, displaying the music's steady transformation from narcotic to narcoleptic. Through tides of reverb, layers and effects, Sandoval and Cíosóig keep songs barely structured, drawing from a large basin of influences both musically and stylistically. Through the Devil Softly is a lush, unreachable piece of modern folk but more importantly, it comes across as more than just an amalgamation of Mazzy Star and MBV, which may be just what they were shooting for.