Mazzy Star is an American alternative rock band formed in 1988 in Santa Monica, California, from remnants of the group Opal.

Mazzy Star is best known for the song "Fade into You", which brought the band some success in the mid-1990s and was the group's biggest mainstream hit, earning extensive exposure on MTV, VH1, and radio airplay.

David Roback, along with his brother Steven, was one of the main architects of leading Los Angeles psychedelic revival band the Rain Parade.

Meanwhile, Sandoval—who was in high school at the time—formed the folk music duo Going Home in the early 1980s with fellow student Sylvia Gomez,[5] and played gigs with Sonic Youth and Minutemen.

[3][5] When Smith left Opal under cloudy circumstances in the middle of a tour supporting the Jesus & Mary Chain, Sandoval was chosen as her replacement.

[3] Despite Smith's departure, Rough Trade retained Roback's original record deal, contractually obligating him to supply a follow-up to Opal's debut LP.

Composed mainly of songs written by Roback and Smith, Sandoval stated that she was unhappy with the material, and expressed an interest in wanting to "start something completely new".

The pair quickly composed and recorded seven new tracks in Hyde Street Studios in San Francisco, and renamed the band Mazzy Star.

She Hangs Brightly was released in May 1990 on Rough Trade and, although it was not an immediate commercial success, the album established the duo as a recurrent fixture on alternative rock radio, with lead single "Blue Flower" – a cover of the Slapp Happy track – peaking at No.

Within weeks, the duo's contract was picked up by Capitol, who re-released She Hangs Brightly on November 4, 1990,[11] and released their follow-up, So Tonight That I Might See on September 27, 1993.

[16] Following the success of "Fade into You", She Hangs Brightly album opener "Halah" began to receive heavy airplay in the US and peaked at No.

[21] Over the course of these sessions, Sandoval reportedly "begged" Capitol to be released from her contract,[22] later elaborating, "It seemed record companies wanted bands to be creative because they didn't know how to manufacture underground music.

In October 2000, Sandoval issued her first EP with the Warm Inventions, At the Doorway Again, and followed it up with her debut full-length album, Bavarian Fruit Bread, a year later.

[26] Sandoval's second album with the Warm Inventions, Through the Devil Softly, was released via Nettwerk on September 29, 2009, and was followed on August 10, 2010, by a non-album single, a cover of Syd Barrett's "Golden Hair".

[27] The first substantive confirmation that the duo would reconvene to complete work on their fourth studio album came from Sandoval herself in a July 2009 interview with Rolling Stone magazine, where she was quoted as saying, "It's true we're still together.

Sandoval promises that will change; she and Roback have their very own Chinese Democracy in the works, but it won't see the light of day until the Warm Inventions have wrapped up their tour.

[34] Performing at several major European festivals, the band consisted of original members Suki Ewers[35] and Keith Mitchell,[36] and were also joined by Sandoval's Warm Inventions band-mate Colm Ó Cíosóig and Keith Mitchell's son Paul, whose band the Brook Lee Catastrophe also served as the opening act of select shows.

[39] In late 2012, several unreleased song titles composed by Hope Sandoval and David Roback were registered with the band's long-time publisher BMI, including "Flying Low"[40] and "Spoon",[41] both of which were performed multiple times on the tour.

[48] The track also features Jim Putnam of Radar Bros.[49] A music video for the song was released on April 19, and is dedicated to Richie Lee of Acetone.

[61] In June 2018, the band reunited for their first concerts in five years, performing on three consecutive nights at the Sydney Opera House as part of Vivid Live.