December 22, 2001

Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions : Bavarian Fruit Bread

Sleepy stuff from ex-Mazzy Star/MBV project...

7 / 10 With Hope Sandoval and former Mazzy Star collaborator David Roback presumably no longer speaking (interviewers who have dealt with either of the monosyllabic duo would ask, "How could you tell?"), the Nico of the modern age has hooked up with former My Bloody Valentine member Colm O'Ciosoig to effectively carry on where her old band left off.

The two great transatlantic strands of narcoleptic pop having been dramatically united, 'Bavarian Fruit Bread' represents a towering piece of morphine-induced self-indulgence. Making no pretence at being contemporary, Sandoval has kept an uncharacteristic vice-like grip on the sleepy sound that earned her and O'Ciosoig their musical spurs.
If almost every song here bears a dramatic resemblance to My Bloody Valentine's 'To Here Knows When', then it's clearly neither a surprise nor a particularly bad thing. They chug along in their happy little rut with customary accidental panache. 'Butterfly Mornings' benefits immensely from the presence of folk hero Bert Jansch, but the enigmatic 'Around My Smile', with its slightly incongruous "I've got it goin' on" refrain, might just have the edge.

It's sexless beauty in excelsis, all told. The Corrs for hipsters, maybe, but sleepwalking your way through life rarely sounded a more viable option.

Jim Wirth