Tired of your Spotify playlists? The Purbalite is here to help with our Essential Listening series.
Mazzy Star’s sophomore album, So Tonight That I Might See, is a classic alternative rock album that explores themes of angst and hopeless romance.
The album’s most famous track, “Fade Into You,” is a classic romance song featured in numerous TV shows and movies, such as Gilmore Girls and the animated sitcom Daria.
“Fade Into You” highlights the longing for deep human connection and the wistfulness of love through its opening lyrics like “I want to hold the hand inside you / I want to take a breath that’s true.” The bluesy guitar throughout the song adds to the atmosphere of melancholy and heartache present in the song.
Similarly, the album’s fifth track, “Blue Light,” has melancholic vocals and guitar. In “Blue Light,” singer Hope Sandoval is characterized as an observer. The “blue light” symbolizes the feeling of aimlessly drifting through life and the universe in general. The repetition of the line “Crashing me by” conveys Sandoval’s observation that life is a constant, moving force.
While the guitar is a prominent instrument throughout the album, the mood it conveys ranges from the blues to more angsty. For example, in “She’s My Baby,” the guitar intro begins as loud and electric and then transitions into repetitive acoustic chords.
Overall, Mazzy Star’s So Tonight That I Might See is full of alternative rock classics and staples, not just “Fade Into You.”
