there is Hope

I was very tired, both physically and mentally. I had been working for 15h/day, three days in a row. After that I slept. And as sleep begets sleep, I slept for something like 17 hours, no questions asked. Through the exhaustion and through the sleep there was one thing that kept me going: the voice of Hope Sandoval.

So here’s to her.

Hope is from different planet. I think that’s very nice and generous of her.

In many ways she reminds me of Ali Shaw of the Cranes. But make no mistake: Hope and Ali may not be of this race, but they do come from two different galaxies. I’m not entirely sure what sets them apart, I’m afraid it’s a shade of pale my eyes would strain in vain to see, but I know it’s there. Maybe Hope contains a wilderness Ali can only gaze at through the rose bushes. Or maybe they do come from the same tiny spot in space and time and Hope is Ali’s mother. Hope feels like a woman, Ali feels like a girl. I have been called a pedophile for listening to Cranes.

Whatever.

Hope’s beautiful voice always comes from several skies above, royally indifferent to the musical arrangements around her. It’s not that she’s not aware of it and sings in her own key, her voice just moves gracefully among the sounds like a queen among her servants. Guitars may go crazy here and there, the drums may dig graves around her feet, she doesn’t care, she floats untouchable. Of course I’m crazy about that, we all fucking are.

This next song reminds me of the Doors somehow, it has that pulpit feel to it. It’s „Riders on the storm”, only this time you watch the storm coming at you in slow motion with long hair like a thousand black flags and you can’t escape it. And what’s worse, you don’t want to escape it, you run to it like in a dream, hypnotized, and give in to its ever so tender anihilation. Jim Morrison, though, in his drug and booze induced wisdom, would wish and pray to the seven heavens he could have written this one. He just didn’t have the breasts to do it. Forgive me God, but listening to this one I’m thinking a nun has never sounded sexier. This is a siren song type of death trap.

Mazzy Star - Mary Of Silence

„Umbilical” is similar, but things get hazier and mazier. This time she whispers and echoes in your ear, as if her voice wasn’t numbing enough in itself. This song is quite a trip own the rabbit hole and you can no longer spell Kansas. But you go „Fuck it, I’ll have a look.”

Mazzy Star - Umbilical

But on to the lighter side of Hope.

„Wild horses” is, to me, the very definition of dream pop. I don’t mean that in a bad way, although I do kick shoegazers in the ribs just as much as the next guy. But I do indulge myself with a slice of dream pop when it comes to Hope, because she probably invented it. Dream pop is her an there’s no way you can hate it. It’s like that scene in High Fidelity when Marie de Salle does a cover of „Baby, I love your way” and Jack Black goes „I used to hate this song, but now I kinda like it”. Beautiful girls are never wrong and that’s a rule.

Mazzy Star - Wild horses

Sometimes I get the feeling she’s never in the same room with the other musicians when she records a song. She’s not even in the same building, city, world, universe. No matter where she is, she’s always somewhere else. In some cases that’s actually true, but we’ll get to Massive Attack later. But it always feels like she sends her vocals down through messenger doves from a void somewhere in a diferent dimension where she sits by herself and sings to herself. This description doesn’t strike me as stretched when applied to a girl who doesn’t allow cameras or lights at her shows. At least Ali sings with her eyes closed so she won’t see the lights and cameras, but Hope doesn’t fuck around. And it’s not because the cameras may „disturb the artist”, it’s cause the artist is already disturbed and suffers from severe stage fright, God bless her.

Hope Sandoval & the Warm Inventions - For the rest of your life

She sometimes colaborates with other artists. I think many musicians are aching to work with her, but she’s not exactly a team player (which is why I love and respect her.) Here’s the bit about Massive Attack. They did a song with her for their next album, Heligoland. The song is beautiful, of course, but they never met. They sent the song, she liked it, recorded the vocals and sent it back. Ha. How very 21st century of them, eh?

Massive Attack - Paradise Circus (feat Hope Sandoval)

And here’s another, older, colaboration with The Jesus & Mary Chain. This is where I fell in love with her back in the 90s. My God, those lips...

Hope Sandoval (with Jesus & Mary Chain) - Sometimes always

And I used to love „Cherry Blossom Girl”, by Air, until I heard this version.

Hope Sandoval - Cherry Blossom Girl (Hope Sandoval Version)

Next and last is this precious little gem. A playful and rock’n’roll-ish Hope baking biscuits for a b-side. Oh, that white glittering pony she’s riding in this song must be one proud and happy fucker, lucky son of a mare.

Mazzy Star - I'm gonna bake my biscuit

I don’t think I would ever want to meet this woman face to face. Natalie Portman I can cope with. I would go as far as to say that even Audrey Hepburn I could survive, but not Hope Sandoval.