New INTERVIEWS w. HOPE & COLM, 2016-17 [TWENTY SIX,so far]

General discussion about Mazzy Star

New INTERVIEWS w. HOPE & COLM, 2016-17 [TWENTY SIX,so far]

Postby Hermesacat » Sun Oct 30, 2016 1:31 am

INTERVIEWS/ARTICLES, HOPE SANDOVAL & THE WARM INVENTIONS, 2016

Glad to see Hope & Colm are doing interviews for the new Until the Hunter album. Scroll down this same post to view articles posted, so far. If anyone comes across more interviews, do post links for them in this thread, and we'll create a new Hope interviews archive thread here. Within the text below, I've embedded photos found on the original web pages. However, in some cases I've needed to reduce the size (and quality) of the photos in order to make them fit into this thread page without their getting partially cut off here. So, if you want to save photos to your own device, it's best to link to the original web pages and download the photos from there. That way, you'll get the best quality.

A few of these listed are articles and album reviews that contain just a very few interview quotes, while many others are full-length interviews.

ARTICLES POSTED HERE, SO FAR:
-2016, Oct. 28, Nov. 2016 issue of IL MUCCHIO SELVAGGIO mag, INTERVIEW w. HOPE & COLM
-2016, Oct. 29, NOISEY/VICE (France), INTERVIEW w. HOPE & COLM
-2016, Oct. 31, CONSEQUENCE OF SOUND, INTERVIEW w. HOPE & COLM
-2016, Nov. 2, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, INTERVIEW w. HOPE & COLM
-2016, Nov. 3, JNSP (JENESAISPOP) INTERVIEW w. HOPE & COLM
-2016, Nov. 4, L.A. WEEKLY, INTERVIEW w. HOPE & COLM
-2016, Nov. 4, BLITZ mag. INTERVIEW w. HOPE (teaser Hope quote,1 paragraph's worth,from a longer interview appearing later in BLITZ mag's Dec. issue. The early quote does not appear in the full interview.
-2016, Nov. 4 BROOKLYN VEGAN site, 10-song playlist assembled by Hope & Colm of songs they like, with their own commentary on each song. Not an interview, but close enough.
-2016, Nov. 8, NOISEY/VICE (English, U.S.) HOPE & COLM interv. (a different interv. from the French Noisey/Vice one of Oct. 29)
-2016, Nov., ROUGH TRADE MAGAZINE - ISSUE 8, (Nov., 2016), Interv. w. Hope & Colm
-2016, Nov. 8, REFINERY 29 Interview w. Hope
-2016, Nov. 4, LES INROCKS, Review of "Until the Hunter" album with a few interv. quotes from Hope & Colm
-2016, Nov. 4, MONORAIL MUSIC, article w. two short Hope & Colm Interv. quotes
-2016, Nov. 16 NEWSTALK 106-108 FM (Dublin radio), Interv. w. Hope & Colm, transcript of audio file
(scroll down to transcript to find links to audio file & youtube upload)
-2016, Nov. 14 BAYERN 2 RADIO (German) Interview w. Hope & Colm, English transcript
(scroll down to transcript to find links to audio file & youtube upload)
-2016, Nov. 23, HERO MAGAZINE,unusual interview consisting of Hope & Colm asking each other questions
-2016, Nov. 25, UNCUT MAGAZINE, album review w. short Q & A w. Hope & Colm (collectively)
-2016, Nov. 28, IRISH TIMES interv. w. Hope & Colm
-2016, Dec., BLITZ MAGAZINE (Portugal), interv. w. Hope from the December issue of BLITZ
-2016, Dec. 16, ROLLING STONE, interv. w. Hope & Colm
-2017, Jan. 2, SWENCH.NET, interv. w. Hope & Colm. This is actually part 2 of the Nov. 28 Irish Times
article/interview. The journalist posted at the Swench additional article and interview content he didn't have room for in his original article.
-2017, Jan., L.A. RECORD mag., Issue 126, Interv. w. Hope & Colm
-2017, April, SO IT GOES mag #9, Interv. w. Hope
-2017, Oct. 20, WBUR Radio, Interv. w. Hope & Colm (a text interview, not audio)
-2017, Oct. 6, THE DOWSERS mag., a 16-song playlist of songs hand-picked and submitted by Hope & Colm
-2017, Nov. 30, WFUV radio Interv. w. Hope & Colm (+ 3-song live performance by HS&TWI as a trio)
.....................................................................................................................
-2016, Oct. 28, Nov. 2016 issue of IL MUCCHIO SELVAGGIO mag, INTERVIEW w. HOPE & COLM, English translation from Italian.
https://giuseppezevolli.com/2016/10/28/ ... selvaggio/

I'd not encountered the article before seeing it recently (Sept. 2022) at the journalist's site.
The article has two photos of Hope, both by Luz Gallardo, and a photo of the UNTIL THE HUNTER Hope S&TWI album cover.

I used several online translation services, comparing results, to try to get a comprehensible English version. Scroll to the end below to access the original Italian article.
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HOPE SANDOVAL & THE WARM INVENTIONS

Difficult Prey

UNTIL THE HUNTER is here, the new album by the duo composed of Hope Sandoval of Mazzy Star and Colm Ó
Cíosóig of My Bloody Valentine. We talk, not without a few unforeseen events, with both.

In 2013 Mazzy Star returned with Seasons Of Your Day, seventeen years after Among My Swan, which seemed to have confined them forever to memories of 90s alternative rock. Yet, according to their enigmatic vocalist Hope Sandoval, this was not a reunion at all: "I don't think it's unusual at all [the long time between records]. I don't think we were really in the mood to release music," she says.

Judging by the sound and aesthetics of the album, you could believe it: Seasons Of Your Day, with that mix of dream pop and Americana, could very well have been released, I don't know, in 1991, straddling the debut She Hangs Brightly, and So Tonight That I Might See, consigned to the collective memory thanks to their (only) hit Fade Into You. Nothing against revivalism when it comes so well packaged.

For even Sandoval's timbre and interpretation on that record is unchanged, almost to mock the time spent and the thousand transformations that took place during the digital era. Yet Hope, amidst her many collaborations (Death In Vegas, Vetiver, and Massive Attack, just to name a few), has kept active a parallel project which, while deviating little from the hyper-romantic aesthetic of Mazzy Star, has been able to bear small fruit.

Warm Inventions are a duo made up of Hope and Colm Ó Cíosóig (drummer of My Bloody Valentine), who arrived with Until The Hunter, the third album, the first to hint, albeit unwittingly, they tell us, at a glimmer of change.

What does not seem to change one iota, outside of music, is the disenchanted, at times moribund, attitude of Hope
Sandoval to the press. Since her heyday with Mazzy Star, when she still denied autographs to fans and preferred to perform in the dark so as not to be seen on stage, Hope boasts a reputation as a difficult interviewee, drawn to silences rather than by the chance to help provide context to her songs.

A journalist in the mid-90s compared his conversation with her to "drinking sand." Again in 2013 a writer from The Guardian wrote: "Interviewing Mazzy Star is like throwing stones down a deep well and waiting for the faint splash." Pretty dramatic images, no doubt, but ones I feel I can give more credibility to after my personal Skype meeting with the duo.

An initial attempt at a group call foundered between "privacy settings" that wouldn't unlock and long waits. Colm and I wait for Hope to join the conversation. No luck. On the second attempt, two days later, I find myself alone with Hope waiting for him and, with no hope of breaking the ice, I barely regret the shipwreck of two days earlier.

All that's left is to light a cigarette and wait for the arrival of Colm, who is more inclined to recount the genesis of Until The Hunter. "Our process has always been spontaneous," Hope affirms, confirming the elliptical statements she made about the first two discs under the name Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions ("Musically, we don't set goals for ourselves").

Fortunately, Colm comes to the rescue: "We haven't experimented that much with this new album. It is quite traditional in terms of production. More than anything else, it's the instrumentation: we tried to introduce more interesting sounds into the mix, especially thanks to the contribution of various musicians we worked with. We met this guy, Michael
Masley, a fantastic street musician. Hope saw him, fell in love with his music and asked him if he wanted to collaborate."

In addition to the contribution of Masley and the Irish band Dirt Blue Gene, already present on the earlier Bavarian Fruit Bread (2001) and Through The Devil Softly (2009), Until The Hunter boasts the collaboration of folk musician Mariee Sioux on backing vocals, and Kurt Vile in a duet with Hope in the hypnotic ballad Let Me Get There.
[bass player Al Browne is the only DBG member on the 2001 album. -BB]

"A few years ago we were played his music and I instantly fell in love with his voice. I asked him if he wanted to sing with me on the song, which might have been a little strange, since it's a love song. I wasn't sure he wanted to participate - you know, sing a love song with a complete stranger...But he agreed and came to record at Fantasy Studios, here in Berkeley."

In addition to little dream pop gems like Isn't It True, probably the most Mazzy Star of the lot, Until The Hunter in places deviates from the monochromatic tones of the previous works. Salt Of The Sea adds a bluesy touch to predominantly folk atmospheres, while A Wonderful Seed at times recalls the disturbing pastorals of Shirley Collins that so influenced David Tibet's Current 93. Here and in other pieces, Sandoval's narratives confirm her as an enchanting as much as inaccessible storyteller, the progenitor of an imaginary school of interpreters ranging from Lana Del Rey to Beach House's Victoria Legrand. In the opening track, Into The Trees, however, Hope peeps out, ominously, over a long expanse of organ notes, reminiscent of the Lisa Germano of the ghostly Lullaby For Liquid Pig.

Is there more experimentation in the dynamics?
"Maybe so," Colm replies, "but what has been strengthened most of all is our harmony in playing as a band, making us more open to the ideas of each collaborator."

In the future, Hope adds, they may consider releasing other artists on their newly formed label Tendril Tales, the very first release of which is Until The Hunter. On the official site [tendriltales.com. -BB] appear for now a GIF showing a woman making a skull bounce up and down, and a short,cryptic video clip of a song not included on Until The Hunter. "I don't understand what people would find disturbing about it." Hope comments without revealing any details.*
To think that fans of Mazzy Star on the Internet have already climbed into speculations about the origin of those images and possible references to other old videos. It's up to them to fill in the gaps.

I am ready to dismiss the two with a provocation, dictated by a genuine curiosity, rather than by a grim revenge for having crushed my enthusiasm: is it really such a burden, I ask Hope, to promote one's music? Has anything changed from the past?

"No, it's the same. Sometimes journalists come up with interesting comments about your music, which listeners are curious to read, but we do too many interviews, and you get bored. Often you sense that people don't really want to talk to you, that they don't care. We try not to do too many interviews lately. As far as I'm concerned, I like to do them with people who have accents. We all have accents, of course - I mean people who don't have American accents."
Saved by my accent?
.......................

*[tendriltales.com referred to in the article is an official site of HS&TWI, though low-key and mysterious, instead of obviously official. It currently (Sept. 2022) still has one otherwise unreleased song on it as its sole content, a one minute+ song snippet called I Like Your Blouse with multiple vocal tracks over-dubbed of Hope singing, and possibly Mariee Sioux as well. To start it playing, you need to click on the GIF of the lady levitating the skull.

Prior to the I Like Your Blouse song that's been on the site since July or August, 2016, there was a different unreleased song there, instead, called Tendril Tales, which first appeared in April, 2016. It's an experimental-sounding instrumenal piece with no singing. Hope appears in the video, however, as does her cat Herman. You can find the Tendril Tales video re-upped to my own yt channel. -
Hermesacat/Bob B.]
Image
Image
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[Original Italian article from
https://giuseppezevolli.com/2016/10/28/ ... selvaggio/ ]

Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions (Mucchio Selvaggio rivista)
October 28, 2016
[Published in Il Mucchio Selvaggio mag n. 747 / November 2016 (print and digital)]

Giuseppe Zevolli

HOPE SANDOVAL & THE WARM INVENTIONS

difficili prede

È arrivato UNTIL THE HUNTER, il nuovo album del duo composto da Hope Sandoval dei Mazzy Star e Colm Ó
Cíosóig dei My Bloody Valentine. Parliamo, non senza qualche imprevisto, con entrambi.
di Giuseppe Zevolli

Nel 2013 i Mazzy Star tornavano con
Seasons Of Your Day, diciassette anni dopo quell’Among My Swan che
sembrava averli confnati per sempre alle
memorie dell’alternative rock anni 90. Eppure, stando alla loro enigmatica vocalist
Hope Sandoval, non si trattava afatto di
una reunion: “Non c’è nulla di inusuale in
questo lungo lasso di tempo. Non eravamo in vena di far uscire niente, tutto qui”,


dice. A giudicare dal suono e dall’estetica
dell’album le si poteva credere: Seasons Of
Your Day, con quel misto di dream pop e
Americana, poteva benissimo essere uscito, che so, nel 1991, a cavallo tra il debutto
She Hangs Brightly e So Tonight That I
Might See, consegnato alla memoria collettiva grazie alla loro (unica) hit Fade Into
You. Niente in contrario al revivalismo
quando arriva così ben confezionato. Per

sino il timbro e l’interpretazione di Sandoval, in quel disco, sembravano immutati,
quasi a prendersi befe del tempo trascorso e delle mille trasformazioni avvenute
durante l’era digitale. Eppure Hope, tra le tante collaborazioni
(Death In Vegas, Vetiver e Massive Attack, solo per citarne alcune),
ha mantenuto attivo un progetto parallelo che, pur scostandosi di poco
dall’estetica iper romantica dei Mazzy Star, ha

saputo dare i suoi piccoli frutti. I Warm
Inventions sono un duo composto da Hope
e Colm Ó Cíosóig (batterista dei My Bloody
Valentine), giunti con Until The Hunter al
terzo album, il primo a lasciar intravedere,
sebbene inconsapevolmente, ci dicono, un
barlume di cambiamento.
Ciò che non sembra cambiare di una virgola, fuor di musica, è l’atteggiamento
disincantato, a tratti moribondo, di Hope
Sandoval nei confronti della stampa. Fin
dai tempi d’oro con i Mazzy Star, quando
ancora negava autograf ai fan e preferiva
esibirsi al buio per non essere intravista
sul palco, Hope vanta una reputazione di
interlocutrice difcile, attratta dai silenzi
più che dalla possibilità di contribuire a
fornire un contesto alle sue canzoni. Un
giornalista a metà anni 90 paragonò il suo
colloquio con lei a una “bevuta di sabbia”.
Ancora nel 2013 una penna del “Guardian”
scriveva: “Intervistare i Mazzy Star è
come lanciare sassi in un pozzo profondo,
aspettando di sentire il più debole degli
schizzi”. Immagini piuttosto drammatiche, senza dubbio, ma a cui sento di poter
dare maggior credibilità dopo il mio personale incontro via Skype con il duo. Un
primo tentativo di chiamata di gruppo
naufraga tra “impostazioni della privacy”
che non si sbloccano e lunghe attese. Io e
Colm aspettiamo che Hope si aggiunga alla
conversazione. Niente da fare. Al secondo
tentativo, due giorni dopo, mi ritrovo solo
con Hope ad attendere lui e, senza alcuna
speranza di rompere il ghiaccio, quasi rimpiango il naufragio di due giorni prima.
Non resta che accendersi una sigaretta
e aspettare l’arrivo di Colm, più incline a
raccontare la genesi di Until The Hunter.
“Il nostro processo è sempre stato spontaneo”, aferma Hope, confermando le ellittiche dichiarazioni rilasciate sui primi due
dischi a nome Hope Sandoval & The Warm
Inventions (“Musicalmente non ci poniamo degli obiettivi”). Fortunatamente Colm
giunge in soccorso: “Non abbiamo spe

rimentato più di tanto con questo nuovo
album. È piuttosto tradizionale per quanto riguarda la produzione. Più che altro,
sono le strumentazioni: abbiamo provato
a introdurre dei suoni più interessanti nel
mix, specie grazie al contributo dei vari
musicisti con cui abbiamo lavorato. Abbiamo incontrato questo tizio, Michael
Masley, un fantastico musicista di strada. Hope l’ha visto, si è innamorata della
sua musica e gli ha chiesto se voleva collaborare”. Oltre al contributo di Masley e
della band irlandese Dirt Blue Gene, già
presente sui precedenti Bavarian Fruit
Bread (2001) e Through The Devil Softly
(2009), Until The Hunter vanta la collaborazione della musicista folk Mariee Sioux
ai cori e di Kurt Vile, in duetto con Hope
nell’ipnotica ballata Let Me Get There.
“Qualche anno fa ci hanno fatto sentire la
sua musica e mi sono istantaneamente innamorata della sua voce. Gli ho chiesto se
voleva cantare con me nel pezzo, il che poteva essere un po’ strano, dato che è una
canzone d’amore. Non ero sicura volesse
partecipare… sai, cantare una canzone
d’amore con una completa sconosciuta…
Ma ha accettato ed è venuto a registrare
ai Fantasy Studios, qui a Berkeley”. Oltre
a piccole gemme dream pop come Isn’t It
True, probabilmente la più Mazzy Star del
lotto, Until The Hunter in alcuni punti si
discosta dai toni monocromi dei precedenti lavori. Salt Of The Sea aggiunge un
tocco blues ad atmosfere prevalentemente
folk,

mentre A Wonderful Seed a tratti richiama le inquietanti pastorali di Shirley
Collins che tanto infuenzarono i Current
93 di David Tibet. Qui e in altri pezzi, le
narrazioni di Sandoval la confermano
cantastorie tanto ammaliante quanto
inaccessibile, capostipite di una scuola di
interpreti immaginaria che va da Lana del
Rey a Victoria Legrand dei Beach House.
Nel brano di apertura, Into The Trees, invece, Hope fa capolino, minacciosa, sopra
a una lunga distesa di note all’organo, ri

cordando la Lisa Germano dello spettrale Lullaby For Liquid Pig. Che ci sia una

maggiore sperimentazione nelle dinamiche? “Forse sì”, risponde Colm, “ma quello
che si è raforzato più di tutto è la nostra
sintonia nel suonare in quanto band, rendendoci più permeabili agli spunti di ogni
collaboratore”. In futuro, aggiunge Hope,
potrebbero prendere in considerazione
l’ipotesi di lanciare altri artisti sulla sua
neonata etichetta Tendril Tales, la cui primissima uscita è proprio Until The Hunter. Sul sito ufciale per il momento compaiono una GIF rafgurante una donna
intenta a palleggiare un teschio e un breve,
criptico clip di un episodio non contenuto
in Until The Hunter.


“Non capisco che ci
trovi la gente di inquietante”, commenta Hope senza rivelare alcun dettaglio. E
pensare che gli ammiratori dei Mazzy Star
su Internet si sono già inerpicati in congetture sull’origine di quelle immagini e sui
possibili richiami con altri vecchi video. A
loro il compito di colmare le lacune.
Sono pronto a congedare i due con una
provocazione, dettata da una genuina
curiosità, più che da una bieca vendetta
per aver schiacciato il mio entusiasmo: è
davvero così un peso, chiedo a Hope, promuovere la propria musica? È cambiato
qualcosa rispetto al passato?

“No, è lo stesso. A volte i giornalisti se ne escono con
commenti interessanti sulla tua musica,
che gli ascoltatori sono curiosi di leggere,
ma ne facciamo troppe e ti annoi. Spesso
percepisci che la gente non ha proprio voglia di parlare con te, che non gli importa
nulla. Cerchiamo comunque di non farne
troppe, di interviste, ultimamente. Per
quanto mi riguarda, mi piace farle con
persone che hanno degli accenti. Tutti abbiamo degli accenti, ovvio… mi riferisco a
persone che non hanno accenti americani”. Che mi abbia salvato l’accento?





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-2016, Oct. 29, NOISEY/VICE (France), INTERVIEW w. HOPE & COLM
The Noisey/Vice one reproduced below is a French text translation from an English language interview. So, Hope's and Colm's exact words in English are unknown. Using a few different online translation tools, I've attempted to translate the French text back into English. Hopefully, it's a fairly close approximation of what they actually said in English. (Emma, if you see any glaring errors I've made in attempting to translate the French text back into English, do let me know!)
.....................................................................................................
https://noisey.vice.com/fr/article/les- ... en-general
[the article's web page has 1 photo, plus 4 yt videos embedded, details below]

Interviews With Hope Sandoval End Badly, In General
Image
[photo by Luz Gallardo]

Albert Potiron
October 29, 2016

You want to do the worst interview in the history of music journalism? No problem, the singer of Mazzy
Star and drummer of My Bloody Valentine are here. As a freelance journalist, it is, like being a musician,
sometimes necessary to compromise. Especially when one inherits a complicated task, if not one impossible to achieve. The challenge of the day was to speak to Hope Sandoval, the female half of Mazzy Star, a group of depressive Americans for the depressive ones around the world, that had its heyday in the early '90s with the album "So Tonight That I Might See." She is now back with "Until the Hunter," the third album from Hope Sandoval and The Warm Inventions, a shared project with Colm O'Ciosoig, drummer of another flagship of the '90s decade, My Bloody Valentine, a group also not very renowned for its loquacity. This means the interview boded well. Since her beginnings, Sandoval has indeed had a reputation for being not very talkative, withdrawn, or downright mute when asked too personal questions. A kind of ideal client, but in reverse. Lost for lost, so go there kamikaze fashion by committing lèse-majesté, even crashing miserably on the trail.

-Noisey: Hope, it seems you are painful to interview. Is this true or is it a legend?

Hope Sandoval: What do you want me to answer? I have no opinion on it.

Colm O'Ciosoig: It's really an odd question to start an interview.

-Since you started with Mazzy Star, is it easier to accept the fact you need to speak to journalists
to promote an album ?

Hope: When I started with Mazzy Star, it was the first time they asked me questions. Sometimes it was very personal questions, and it could be disturbing or even very complicated for me. Much time has passed since, and most journalists now also know what to expect with me, so...it may be a little simpler.

-It earned you a very mysterious image. What happens in your daily life when you're not recording?

Hope: As everybody does, I do everyday things.

Colm: Hope and myself we like to hike, for example. This is where we get our piece "The Hiking Song." We love shopping, watching TV, listening to records, seeing friends, preparing meals. A normal life.

-This is your third album under the label Hope Sandoval and The Warm Inventions, but the first since 2009. What's the story ?

Hope: (laughs) The story? Obviously you will need a good [one] to write this article.

Colm: (trying to make up for it) Hope and I play in several groups. It has been busy changing [bands/projects]. Especially me, since I changed [bands] during almost 5 years. It's very hard to compromise when you change [bands/projects]. And even more so when it comes to recording. We stopped doing concerts around 2013, and we started working on the record in 2014. Finally, we did not lose so much time as that.

Hope: (laughs): We do not share your perception of time. Our music is not a 9am to 5pm job. It's music, it comes when it comes. It has never been a rush to make it, and even less so to record it.

-OK. Colm, you are also the drummer of My Bloody Valentine. Can we imagine a future collaboration between Kevin Shields and Hope?

Hope: (ironic) I never really thought of it, but it seems a very good idea indeed.

Colm (adding a layer) Perhaps I can put you in contact with Kevin, Hope? I do have contact.

Hope: Perfect, we can start to work on it, then. It would be great, I think.

-The new album opens with "Into The Trees," the longest track on the album (it lasts more than 9 minutes). Why
this rather radical choice?

Colm: We do not live definitively in the same world as others. For us, 9 minutes is not that long.

Hope: Why would anyone ask about the tracklisting? You know, we just responded to an interview a few minutes ago and the reporter asked the same question. You all think the same way. What is the problem?

-I guess it's because we are journalists. So we ask questions to try to understand.

Hope: That's great. When I ask a question, you answer.

-Of course. And I always try to have an answer to your questions. Any other questions?

Hope: Not right now, no.

-Well, then I'll resume. Does repetitive music interest you? Steve Reich, for example?

Colm: Reich has been on our turntable before. I like his music but have not played it for a long time.

Hope: What name did you say?

-Steve Reich.

Hope: Is it "in guitars"?

-No, rather "in keyboards."

Hope: I think I met someone who was completely fascinated by his music. Does it sound like elevator music?

-Not really, no. I ask this question about repetitive music because the first three minutes of "Liquid Lady" made me think of it. So I was wondering if you were listening to that stuff.

Hope: Probably. I mean, we love music. All that is good is welcome.

-Liz Fraser of Cocteau Twins also, I suppose. Your voice often reminds me of hers.

Hope: We listen to Liz all the time. We love her. She obsesses us. It happens all the time we listen to Cocteau Twins at home, and have always done. We would like to hear them even more often. I did a U.S. tour with them [Mazzy Star opened]. It was an experience, the most beautiful of my life. After each of our sets, I had one wish: Take a glass of wine, sit down, and listen to their set. It was beautiful, and I was very fortunate to have the chance live it.

-Like the Cocteau Twins, the music that you put your voice down on has always been rich in reverb.

Hope: We love it, that's true.

Colm: We recorded in large rooms, with a natural reverb. It was crazy enough, we hardly needed to add any. Many musicians like things rather dry, neutral. This is not the case with us. Hope in Mazzy Star, for example, has a lot of reverb.

Hope: Yes, my love of reverb probably comes from there. Actually, no, it comes from elsewhere. My first album Going Home, my first band, was produced by David (Roback, the other member of the duo Mazzy Star), and he had decided to drown my voice in reverb. I became addicted to this stuff, and when we started Mazzy Star, we continued to use it on my voice.

-And you have never stopped using it since.

Hope: It's not completely true. Massive Attack did not use reverb on my voice for "Paradise Circus,"
although I think they should have because it would have sounded much better. But they did not. Same for
Chemical Brothers, they had not added any effect on my voice. They wanted it to be as close as possible
to reality. While what I like is that it evokes fantasy, dream.

-Maybe it's also because you do not like your voice?

Hope: I like it very much with reverb. Without it, I think it is a bit flat.

-You told me earlier that you were listening to a lot of music.

Hope: I listen to a lot of Erykah Badu. I love her music, it is really amazing. We have also listened to Beach House a lot during the past two years. And Connan Mockasin we saw recently in concert at The Independent in San Francisco.

-Not very surprising that you like Beach House or Connan Mockasin. Their music also contains much reverb.

Hope: That's right, you're right. They do what we've done for years.

-Can you tell me more about your taste for pedal steel? It is found everywhere in your discography,
and on your new album. On "Day Disguise," for example.

Hope: I cannot help it, that's played by musicians with whom I worked. I do not arrive and say "Hey, guys, play slide guitar and pedal steel." They play what they want, certainly, and sometimes they play the pedal steel.

-You have new projects with Mazzy Star, or has it ended?

Hope: No, it is far from ended. For now, I'm focused on this Warm Inventions release and don't think beyond it. We'll see what follows later.

-And you, Colm, what about the continuation of My Bloody Valentine? The last album was real "Arles-ian" rock, a matching piece after more than 20 years. Where are you?

Colm: I hope that our next album will be released quite quickly. Over one hump anyway. In any case, it will be out more quickly than the previous one, obviously (laughs). Playing in a variety of groups is not always simple, even if more and more people are doing it. What is cool is that one is always busy. Hope also. Oddly, it's even much more so than ten years ago. We've produced more music in the past 10 years than in the previous 15 years.

-In fact, the press release I received classes your music under the label of "indie pop."

Colm: And then? What's "indie pop" for you?

Hope: Yes, how would you describe "indie pop"?

-Something bland and boring. Your album evokes more a B.O. of a bit twisted modern western.

Colm: Music of the '40s? But that's not really what we do.

-I believe that most westerns were going a bit before the '40s, but it is you who see. If you had to describe your music to friends, how would you?

Hope: We have no friends and never will.

-It's true what you were saying just now, Hope, you are more comfortable in interviews.

Hope: We cannot describe our music.

Colm: No. And I love stray animals. Then we will let you go you here (hangs up).

-Drunk, Albert Potiron wanders on Twitter.

[Note: The original article also contains these embedded videos]:
Hope S&TWI - Isn't It True: https://youtu.be/IzGWBWu-Rxg
Cocteau Twins - Heaven or Las Vegas: https://youtu.be/6KnYw4EwYGc
Hope S&TWI - Let Me Get There: https://youtu.be/pyRJYnAndT0
Massive Attack w. Hope S. - Paradise Circus: https://youtu.be/daoY5iPorMc
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[Published FRENCH TEXT version]

https://noisey.vice.com/fr/article/les- ... en-general

Les interviews avec Hope Sandoval finissent mal, en général

Albert Potiron
Oct 29 2016, 3:13am

Vous voulez réaliser le pire entretien de toute l'histoire du journalisme musical ? Pas de problèmes, la chanteuse de Mazzy Star et le batteur de My Bloody Valentine sont là pour ça.Pigiste, c'est comme musicien, il faut parfois savoir composer. Particulièrement quand on hérite d'une mission compliquée, voire impossible à réaliser. Le challenge du jour consistait à faire parler Hope Sandoval, moitié féminine de Mazzy Star, groupe de dépressifs américains pour les dépressifs du monde entier qui connut son heure de gloire au début des années 90 avec l'album So Tonight That I Might See. Elle est aujourd'hui de retour avec Until The Hunter, troisième album de Hope Sandoval and The Warm Inventions, projet partagé avec Colm O'Ciosoig, batteur d'un autre vaisseau amiral de la décennie 90, My Bloody Valentine. Un groupe lui aussi peu réputé pour sa faconde. C'est dire si cette interview s'annonçait bien. Depuis ses débuts, Sandoval a en effet la réputation d'être peu bavarde, renfermée, voire carrément mutique quand on lui pose des questions trop personnelles. Une sorte de cliente idéale, mais à l'envers. Perdu pour perdu, autant y aller en mode kamikaze en faisant preuve de lèse-majesté, quitte à s'écraser lamentablement sur la piste.

Noisey: Hope, il paraît que vous êtes pénible à interviewer. C'est vrai ou c'est une légende ?
Hope Sandoval : Que voulez-vous que je réponde ? Je n'ai aucun avis là-dessus.

Colm O'Ciosoig : C'est vraiment une question bizarre pour démarrer une interview.

Depuis vos débuts avec Mazzy Star, acceptez-vous plus facilement le fait de devoir parler à des journalistes pour promouvoir un album ?
Hope : Quand j'ai débuté avec Mazzy Star, c'était la première fois qu'on me posait des questions. Parfois c'était des questions très personnelles, et ça pouvait être dérangeant, voire très compliqué pour moi. Beaucoup de temps s'est écoulé depuis, et la plupart des journalistes aujourd'hui savent aussi à quoi s'attendre avec moi, donc... C'est peut-être un peu plus simple.

Ça vous a valu une image très mystérieuse. Comment se déroule votre vie quotidienne quand vous n'enregistrez pas ?
Hope : Comme tout le monde. Je vis les choses de tous les jours...

Colm : Hope et moi on aime faire de la randonnée, par exemple. C'est de là que vient notre morceau « The Hiking Song ». On aime aussi faire du shopping, regarder la télé, écouter des disques, voir des amis, leur préparer des dîners. Une vie normale.

C'est votre troisième album sous l'étiquette Hope Sandoval and The Warm Inventions, mais le premier depuis 2009. C'est quoi, l'histoire ?
Hope : [Rires] L'histoire ? Visiblement, toi il t'en faudra une bonne pour écrire son article.

Colm : [tentant de rattraper le coup] Hope et moi on joue dans plusieurs groupes. On a été très occupés à tourner. Surtout moi, puisque j'ai tourné pendant presque 5 ans. C'est très dur de composer quand tu tournes. Et encore plus d'enregistrer bien sûr. On a cessé de faire des concerts vers 2013, et on a commencé à bosser sur le disque en 2014. Finalement, on n'a pas perdu tant de temps que ça.

Hope : [Rires] : On ne partage pas du tout ta perception du temps. Notre musique n'est pas un job où on bosserait de 9h du
matin à cinq heures du soir. C'est de la musique, ça vient quand ça vient. On ne s'est jamais dépêchés pour en faire et encore moins pour l'enregistrer.

OK. Colm, tu es aussi le batteur de My Bloody Valentine. Peut-on imaginer une future collaboration entre Kevin Shields et Hope ?
Hope : [ironique] Je n'y ai jamais vraiment pensé mais ça semble une très bonne idée, en effet.

Colm : [en rajoutant une couche] Peut-être que je peux te mettre en relation avec Kevin, Hope ? J'ai son contact.

Hope : Parfait, on va pouvoir commencer à bosser là-dessus, alors. Ce serait génial je trouve.

Ce nouvel album s'ouvre avec « Into The Trees », le titre le plus long de l'album (il dure plus de 9 minutes). Pourquoi ce choix assez radical ?
Colm : On ne vit définitivement pas dans le même monde que les autres. Pour nous, 9 minutes, c'est pas si long.

Hope : Pourquoi se serait-on posé des questions là-dessus quand on a travaillé sur le tracklisting ? Tu sais, on vient de répondre à une interview il y a quelques minutes et le journaliste nous a posé la même question. Vous pensez tous de la même manière. Quel est le problème ?

Je suppose que c'est parce qu'on est journalistes. Alors on pose des questions pour essayer de comprendre.
Hope : C'est super. Quand je pose une question, tu as une réponse.

Bien sûr. Et j'essaierai toujours d'avoir une réponse à vos questions. D'autres interrogations ?
Hope : Pas pour l'instant, non.

Bien, alors je reprends. Est-ce que la musique répétitive vous intéresse ? Steve Reich, par exemple ?
Colm : Reich est déjà passé sur notre platine. J'aime sa musique mais on ne l'a pas jouée depuis très longtemps.

Hope : Quel nom dis-tu ?

Steve Reich.
Hope : Est-il « dans les guitares » ?

Non, plutôt « dans les claviers ».
Hope : Je crois que j'ai connu quelqu'un qui était complètement fasciné par sa musique. Ca ressemble à de la musique pour ascenseur ?

Pas vraiment, non. Je vous pose cette question sur la musique répétitive car les trois premières minutes de « Liquid Lady » m'y ont fait penser. Je me demandais donc si vous écoutiez ce genre de choses.
Hope : Probablement. Je veux dire, on aime la musique. Tout ce qui est bon est donc bienvenu.


Liz Fraser des Cocteau Twins également, je suppose. Votre voix m'y a souvent fait penser.
Hope : On écoute tout le temps Liz. On l'adore. Elle nous obsède. On passe tout le temps les Cocteau Twins chez nous et on l'a toujours fait. On voudrait l'entendre plus souvent. J'ai fait une tournée américaine avec eux. Ça a été une des expériences les plus magnifiques de ma vie. Après chacun de nos concerts, je n'avais qu'une envie. Prendre un verre de vin, me poser et écouter leur set. C'était magnifique et j'ai eu énormément de chance de pouvoir vivre ça.

Comme celle des Cocteau Twins, la musique sur laquelle tu poses ta voix a toujours été très riche en réverbération.
Hope : On adore ça c'est vrai.

Colm : On a enregistré dans des grandes pièces, avec une réverbération naturelle. C'était assez dingue, on n'a presque pas eu besoin d'en ajouter. Beaucoup de musiciens aiment les choses assez sèches, neutres. Ce n'est pas notre cas. Hope dans Mazzy Star, par exemple, c'est énormément de réverbération.

Hope : Oui, mon goût pour la réverb' vient probablement de là. En fait, non, ça vient d'ailleurs. Mon premier album avec Going Home, mon tout premier groupe, avait été produit par David [Roback, l'autre membre du duo Mazzy Star], et il avait décidé de noyer ma voix dans la réverb. Je suis devenu accro à ce truc, et quand on a commencé Mazzy Star, on a continué à l'utiliser sur ma voix.

Et vous n'avez jamais cessé de l'utiliser depuis.
Hope : Ce n'est pas complètement vrai. Massive Attack n'a pas utilisé de reverb' sur ma voix pour « Paradise Circus ». Même si je pense qu'ils auraient dû parce que ça aurait vraiment mieux sonné. Mais ils ne l'ont pas fait. Pareil pour les Chemical Brothers, ils n'avaient pas ajouté d'effet sur ma voix. Ils voulaient qu'elle soit le plus proche possible de la réalité. Alors que ce que j'aime, c'est qu'elle évoque la fantaisie, le rêve.

Peut-être que c'est parce que vous n'aimez pas trop votre voix ?
Hope : Je l'aime beaucoup avec de la reverb'. Sans, ça va, mais je la trouve un peu plate.

Vous me disiez tout à l'heure que vous écoutiez énormément de musique.
Hope : J'écoute beaucoup Erykah Badu. Je l'adore, sa musique est vraiment très surprenante. Nous avons aussi beaucoup écouté Beach House pendant les deux dernières années. Et Connan Mockasin, qu'on a vu en concert récemment à l'Independent de San Francisco.

Pas très surprenant que vous aimiez Beach House ou Connan Mockasin, finalement. Leur musique contient aussi beaucoup de réverb'.
Hope : C'est vrai, tu as raison. Ils font ce qu'on fait depuis des années finalement.

Pouvez-vous m'en dire plus sur votre goût prononcé pour la pedal steel ? On en trouve un peu partout dans votre discographie et sur votre nouvel album. Sur « Day Disguise », par exemple.
Hope : Je n'y peux rien, c'est ce que jouent les musiciens avec lesquels j'ai travaillé. Je n'arrive pas en disant «
hey, les gars, jouez de la slide guitar et de la pedal steel. Ils jouent ce qu'ils veulent bien sûr, et parfois, ils
jouent de la pedal steel.

Vous avez de nouveaux projets avec Mazzy Star ou c'est terminé ?
Hope : Non, c'est loin d'être terminé. Pour l'instant je suis concentré sur cette sortie de Warm Inventions et je ne pense qu'à ça. On verra la suite plus tard.

Et toi, Colm, qu'en est-il de la suite avec My Bloody Valentine ? Le dernier album du groupe a été une véritable
arlésienne du rock pendant plus de 20 ans. Où en êtes-vous ?
Colm : J'espère que notre prochain album sortira assez rapidement. On bosse dessus en tout cas. En tout cas, il
sortira plus rapidement que le précédent, c'est évident [Rires]. Jouer dans différents groupes n'est pas toujours
simple, même si de plus en plus de gens le font. Ce qui est cool par contre, c'est qu'on est toujours très occupés.
Hope aussi. Bizarrement, on l'est même beaucoup plus qu'il y a dix ans. On a beaucoup plus produit de musique depuis 10 ans que dans les 15 années précédentes.


Au fait, le communiqué de presse que j'ai reçu classe votre musique sous l'étiquette d'indie pop.
Colm : Et alors ? C'est quoi l'indie pop pour toi ?

Hope : Oui, comment décrirais-tu l'indie pop ?

Quelque chose de fade et chiant. Votre album évoque davantage une B.O. de western moderne un peu tordu.
Colm : De la musique des années 40 ? Mais ce n'est pas vraiment ce qu'on fait.

Je crois que la plupart des westerns se déroulaient un poil avant les années 40, mais c'est vous qui voyez. Vous, si
vous deviez décrire votre musique à des amis, que diriez-vous ?Hope : On n'a pas d'amis et on n'en aura jamais.

C'est vrai ce que vous disiez tout à l'heure, Hope, vous êtes plus à l'aise en interview.
Hope : Nous ne pouvons pas décrire notre musique.

Colm : Non. Et puis j'aime beaucoup les animaux égarés, alors on va te laisser te laisser là [il raccroche].

Ivre, Albert Potiron erre sur Twitter.


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2016, OCT. 31, CONSEQUENCE OF SOUND, INTERVIEW w. HOPE & COLM

http://consequenceofsound.net/2016/11/b ... nventions/
[the article's web page has 5 photos, plus 2 yt videos embedded, video details listed below]

Bringing Back the Magic: A Conversation with Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions
The Mazzy Star and My Bloody Valentine duo continue their enchanting partnership
BY LIOR PHILLIPSON
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Hope Sandoval and Colm Ó Cíosóig’s music has always sat at a strange intersection of mystical and intentional. The former’s work with Mazzy Star and the latter’s with My Bloody Valentine carries an air of the organic; it’s something entirely natural, living, and breathing, yet to call it messy or imprecise would be inaccurate. There’s room for experimentation, but always with the hand of intelligent composers guiding the way.

Their music together as Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions relies on that same sort of controlled chance. Sandoval and Ó Cíosóig are such skilled songwriters and musicians that they can strike out in whichever direction takes their fancy and find something powerful along the way. That magic carried over into the production of their forthcoming third album together, Until the Hunter. Only these two could search online for a place to stay and wind up in a Martello tower — a 19th-century British fort, circular in design, which surely added to the resonant, timeless echo of the album. And only these two could stumble into a street performer in Berkeley, California, and know that they had discovered one of their album’s key collaborators. Sandoval and Ó Cíosóig were able to work without restrictions, to trust in their strengths and let in risks, knowing that they could produce something real from the results.

That sense of fate resides in the music, the listener drawn into their world even as it melts around them, some sparkling thread drawn through the center of the shifting landscape. It was easy to locate that same feeling in speaking with the two, our conversation sliding from paranoia-inducing phone cameras to working with Kurt Vile, what it feels like to need music to the concept of writer’s block, all without a second thought. Throughout, Sandoval and Ó Cíosóig retained a warm subtlety, always revealing just enough to feel wrapped up in the beautiful mystery of the world.
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-You’ve been playing music with each other for nearly two decades, and both of you have obviously been making music for longer. What is it about music that you admire?

Colm Ó Cíosóig: There are so many things in music that you can still love even after all these years. I’m so inspired by so many great songs and songwriters and great pieces of music out there that it’s a never-ending relationship. I’m always discovering stuff. I think to still have fresh ears in music is a good thing and not to feel burnt out. We never get burnt out. There’s always good music to be made and music to be found.

-And you, Hope? Has your relationship to music changed over time at all?

Hope Sandoval: Oh no, it still tortures me.

-I think this might be endemic of my generation, but sometimes I demand music in the same desperate way I did when I was 16. I’m still so dependent on it.

Sandoval: Completely, and I think for musicians you do depend on it. You need it, but you hate it. You hate that you need it! It’s a crazy, bad relationship.

-Do you still get excited about making music?

Sandoval: It’s a necessary evil; we just have to do it.

Ó Cíosóig: We just have no choice at all. Obviously, we’re passed the beginning phases now, but it all still feels kind of fresh because there’s still more to be done. It’s a necessary evil: Once you do one, you have to do more.

-You decamped to Ireland to write and record several of these sessions at the Martello towers. Not only do they house this rich history, but the actual design of the cylindrical shape of them must have helped the recording somewhat. Colm, can you tell me about this experience, specifically with your percussion?

Ó Cíosóig: Well, we just stumbled upon these towers by looking for somewhere to stay, like an Airbnb. We always try to find somewhere that we can play music in that doesn’t bother the neighbors. We found this one tower online and thought it looked great and thought, “Hang on, there’s no neighbors there, and it has really thick walls.” It’s completely soundproof in that sense, and we didn’t know how it would sound until we set up, and it was actually great-sounding to our surprise. Because of the circular dimensions, the reverb inside died naturally, and it had this curve; it didn’t bounce around like a square box. The resonance in the towers suggested sounds that might not have been there. They brought out existing sounds more. If you have parallel walls, the reverb keeps on going, and we had a nice natural decay that let the music just breathe inside it.
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-Like that echo during “A Wonderful Seed”?

Ó Cíosóig: Definitely, and that echo was suggested by all the elements, and then it kind of just fell into place. Everything that was there wanted to be there, so we put it there. The songs were crying out for it.

-The phantom echo of the tower has invaded our conversation. Hope and Lior, can you hear that?

Sandoval: There are two Colms and two Hopes on this call. We did this interview yesterday, and it was happening the whole time. Poor guy, where was he from? I think he was French, and it was miserable with a crazy delay. Whenever I would speak I just had to rush through everything I was saying so that I would try to avoid hearing myself.

-It’s a nightmare. I hate hearing my own voice, let alone multiplied.

Ó Cíosóig: I think it’s stopped now? I think spies were listening in and decided to switch to clock off.

Sandoval: This phone, though, this is an analog land line, but you know, they are probably listening to that shit, too. On my phones and Colm’s computer — I don’t have a computer — but on my phones, I cover all of the cameras.

-I thought I was too paranoid to tell anybody I did the same!

Both: Oh yeah, we all do that!

Sandoval: Everybody is being watched, and everybody is being listened to. It’s a fact. Everybody has to cover their cameras. We have two cameras on our phone. We have the camera that faces out and the camera that faces us, and so you have to cover both lenses on your phone and your computer.

Hope, you don’t have a computer?

Sandoval: I know. How old are you? You’re probably really young. A lot of people my age don’t have computers.

-I’m 30, and going by the writers I meet, I’m an old goat compared to the lot of them.

Sandoval: Oh girl, you’re a baby! When I was 30, you think I’d be here right now? I’d be out somewhere having a great, old time.

-Well, I’m having the best time with the two of you, so cut me some slack!

Sandoval: You’re right. [Laughs] Let’s focus on the now.

-Tell me about the other places you recorded this album in.

Ó Cíosóig: Some of it was done in Hope’s house in Berkeley, California, actually, so between Berkeley and Dublin, and one song was done in a college in Dublin. We used two different towers. One had more furniture and one had less furniture, so the sound could echo differently. What’s interesting is how less furniture had a better sound.

-Do you find that this collaboration brings something out of you that you feel your other projects might not?

Ó Cíosóig: We kind of see ourselves as experimental in a way, even though we don’t sound it. That means we can go anywhere we want with no restriction. It’s not that our other bands, Mazzy Star and My Bloody Valentine, have restrictions, but there’s a certain sound in those bands. Hope and I have a sound, but it’s always changing and morphing into different things while still carrying a similar thread. It’s so good to explore different avenues as an artist.

-And most experimental rock and folk is based around improvisation, but this sounds quite structured, really. The intricacy is the sound. The collaborators you both chose to use must have aided that as well?

Ó Cíosóig: Hope can explain to you how we found Michael Masley!

Sandoval: Can I? Alright, well Michael Masley … he’s amazing. We just love him and he’s like our family now, and we haven’t really even known him for a year. He’s a street musician who plays every weekend by the BART Station in Berkeley, and that’s how we found him — we walked by and heard this beautiful music.

-So you just asked him?

Sandoval: Yeah! We got his card, gave him some money in the hat he places in front of him. And then we met him and just invited him to come over and play some of his really cool, weird sounds. He basically reinvents instruments.

-How so?

Sandoval: He has this gong — a big, giant cymbal — and he drills a hole in the middle of the gong and does all these crazy sounds with it. Who knew you can make some of the sounds that he makes with a gong? And whatever I thought a gong might sound like vanished the minute he started playing. I thought you just hit a gong with a mallet, but no. He has all this weird, crazy stuff that he does to create these amazing sounds, and he tells you [Masley impression]: “You’re never gonna hear this sound again. Nobody is going to give you this sound!”

-He’s so confident.

Sandoval: Oh yeah! Oh yeah! You need to Google him now. He’ll blow your mind. It’s not a joke.

Ó Cíosóig: Well, he calls himself “The Artist General.” [@ArtistGeneral is his twitter address, and his own Facebook page refers to him as The Artist General]

Sandoval: Someone is making a film about him, too, a documentary. There’s a lot of really cool music in the Downtown Berkeley BART station. There’s this guy that shows up in a truck, and at the back of his truck is a piano, an upright piano, and he takes the piano off the truck, puts it in front of the Berkeley Bart station, and a drummer shows up and they play the most beautiful, crazy blues. We’ve got some really amazing music here in Berkeley.

-Was there any specific sound that Michael used — a song that stood out for you that he worked on?

Ó Cíosóig: He used this instrument called a Nyckelharpa, which is a weird Eastern European violin-y thing. It looks like a lute mixed with a violin. He created all these drones and tunes it himself — some of the violin that you hear on the album is that Nyckelharpa instrument Michael is playing.

-I’m so fascinated by musicians commanding their instruments and wielding them in a way they want to and feeling confident to do so. There’s this pianist, Hauschka, who uses a prepared piano technique to get the desired sound, so for hi-hat sounds he uses paper and thin plastic pieces; he uses bottle caps and necklaces, too.

Ó Cíosóig: Oh wow, I find it so fascinating, too, and not knowing which songs he would add his wildness to! You can hear him on “Into the Trees” quite clearly.

-I love how the album opens with that track, like this ominous siren call from an organ, which provides a space for your listener to settle in. It’s also nine minutes long. Like an entrance into a new world that the two of you are exploring. It feels more comfortable than grand, but always tapped into some sort of deep feeling.

Sandoval: I really love that song. It was just Colm and I when we recorded it. We were in the Dalkey tower, but the song is way longer than it is on the record. I don’t even know how long it was originally? We just had wine, got stoned, and played non-stop. I got this new organ, and it was the first time I played it, and Colm played drums. It was crazy, wild, dark, and spooky. I think that song represents the mood of what was happening on the night.

Ó Cíosóig: And it’s nice to be able to finish up a record where you can start it all over again; it has that fluid movement to it.

-“Let Me Get There” brings in Kurt Vile, and in the presser he says it gave him chills to sing with you, Hope, which seems like a very common response to listening to your music, let alone playing on it. Why do you think people have such a physical reaction in addition to an emotional one?

Sandoval: We recently went to see Connan Mockasin, and I completely fell in love with him to the point where I was dreaming about him. Yeah, I fell madly in love with this crazy guy because of his music. He’s incredible. Music definitely moves me in ways I can’t fully understand.

-It’s no surprise that music traffics between your emotions, too. There seems to be this never-ending well of characters that reappear in your music.

Ó Cíosóig: We paid attention to each other, and to the backing vocals, which was a new venture. We’ve done some before, but we haven’t done as many.

-The thing I’m most struck by on the new record are the harmonies. There’s something really serene, really rich, really communal about the way you all sing together. What was the biggest risk you took on Until the Hunter?

Ó Cíosóig: Sneaking into the tower with our equipment and pretending we were just a college band!

-You didn’t tell anybody?

Ó Cíosóig: We didn’t tell the owners that we had a whole band lineup coming in to record an entire album.

Sandoval: They caught us out, though! One day, they just showed up, and Colm invited them in. They saw everything, the seven musicians, the gear, the drums were set up and the amp. But they were cool, you know? They love Colm! I think they liked the idea that somebody was inspired by the building.

Ó Cíosóig: You can get nervous when you rent a place. You wonder what the owners are like. They might think you’re this rock and roll band. We tread lightly and call ourselves songwriters and carry acoustic guitars and then sneak around in the middle of the night doing the exact opposite.
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[photo: D.B.G.'s Charles Cullen and Colm]

-So, am I allowed to ask who “Liquid Lady” is from that track? Was she involved in those late nights?

Sandoval: [Giggles]

Ó Cíosóig: Well, I don’t think Liquid Lady is actually a person.

Sandoval: I don’t know who she is, but I wish I had some Liquid Ladies right about now.

-I mean, you say the line, “Keep you warm like a hurricane into a storm.” Hope, do you write all the lyrics?

Ó Cíosóig: Hope has to write all the lyrics because if I step in, it would be a disaster.

Sandoval: Colm comes up with some really good ideas, actually. Colm wrote some of the lyrics in My Bloody Valentine, too. He’s pretty amazing. He can play basically any instrument, he can write lyrics, he can sing. He doesn’t sing on this record, but he sings on the record before this. So what is it … A man of all trades?

Ó Cíosóig: Hope, a jack of all trades, master of none? [Laughs]

Sandoval: [Laughs]

-Look what you’ve done now, Hope! Did you write the lyrics for “Day Disguise”?

Sandoval: Colm?

Ó Cíosóig: Hope wrote those.

-I’m unsure why I felt these lyrics were more poetic this time around, like on that track, “Why don’t you linger on/ Make my branches strong/ Until I know I can shade you.”

Ó Cíosóig: I’ve always thought Hope can actually read peoples’ minds.

-It’s possible. I mean, some people talk about songwriting like it’s a business. Others feel it’s much more muse-driven and more spontaneous. Isn’t writer’s block just the most archaic idea?

Sandoval: I didn’t even know what that was until the late ‘90s. Like, what the hell is that? People aren’t able to do something? That’s crazy. What does that mean, “writer’s block?” What the hell does that mean? You can’t write or play music or paint? That’s just crazy. It’s like a posh term. You’ve gotta be super rich to fucking have writer’s block, you know what I mean?

-Because it’s not your full-time job and it’s just a hobby on the side, so you can take time to muse about writer’s block.

Sandoval: [Mocking] “I’ve got writer’s block, guys. I can’t work!” Honestly, writer’s block is baby crap. Get it together, people. Stop thinking about it and just do it. That’s just overthinking it. It’s not so precious; it’s just a song. It’s just art and art is nothing. Art is not precious, anybody can do it. A five-year-old can do it. It’s not a big deal.
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[photo: from HS&TWI's video for the song "Let Me Get There", with Kurt Vile]

-I feel like once you take your focus off of something, whether it’s art or your relationships or yourself, it comes naturally. But people are so aware of how they are portrayed nowadays as an artist. Are you ever surprised, then, by the insatiable public demand for private information in certain parts of the world? In America, right now, this kind of thing is reaching horrifying new heights. You also both come from an era where we were obsessed with artistry, but we couldn’t communicate directly with our artists.

Ó Cíosóig: It’s true. It’s where we come from. I don’t have many friends who are young artists, so I can’t really tell. If people choose to share information on Facebook, then they can. We actually just don’t feel like doing that, and that’s fine with us. We don’t feel like we should have to. People shouldn’t be forced into doing these things just because everybody else is doing it.

-I want to know my artists, but I don’t really want to know how the rabbit gets taken out of the hat.

Ó Cíosóig: The problem with the modern world and all that crap, it’s destroying the idea of mystery and enchantment that exists with musicians. It’s stripping that away for really boring reasons. It’s not adding anything spectacular to the picture; it’s the opposite, so I find it boring, and I don’t have to partake. We do interviews occasionally, but really, as you know, not often. There’s way too much unnecessary crap out there. Why are all these governments listening to everyone? They have their ears full of crap, which is fair enough if they want to choose to do that, that’s their decision, but there’s so much crap out there.

Sandoval: The only really good thing is if you need a new recipe for something. It’s quick, you just Google “enchilada sauce,” and it comes right up. They have pictures, too. And now everybody can cook. That’s when it’s really good.

Ó Cíosóig: For that reason, and for independent music, it’s great. You can just create your own world. Part of what’s amazing about it is that you can make your own little movie and stick it up online and get things out there really fast.

-It should complement your real life. Being digital has become somewhat separate to your physical life. People do need to get out more. Will you be touring a lot?

Ó Cíosóig: We’re planning on it! At the beginning of next year in March.

Sandoval: It’ll be a cinch!
....................................................................
[two yt videos are embedded on the article's web page]:
-Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions - Let Me Get There ft. Kurt Vile:
https://youtu.be/pyRJYnAndT0
-Hope Sandoval and the Warm Inventions - Isn't it True:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzGWBWu ... e=youtu.be


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2016, NOV. 2, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, INTERVIEW w. HOPE & COLM

http://www.sfchronicle.com/music/popqui ... o-11642873
[this article's web page includes two photos]

Music
Hope Sandoval prefers to let the music do the talking
By Aidin VaziriNovember 2, 2016
Image

Image

Hope Sandoval has one of the most beautiful, seductive voices in popular music — one that she prefers not to use very much in conversation. But the lead singer of Mazzy Star has a new solo album, “Until the Hunter” — her first since 2009 with her backing band, the Warm Inventions — and she’s doing her best to talk about it. Fortunately, her drummer Colm Ó Cíosóig, who also works with My Bloody Valentine, provides backup on a conference call as the pair — she lives in the Bay Area, he’s in Ireland — field questions about the recording, taking solace in a side project and the single, “Let Me Get There,” which features the indie rocker Kurt Vile.

Q: This is your first album together in seven years. Did it really take that long to make?

Colm Ó Cíosóig: No, not at all. Not really. We didn’t start till 2014. We had been touring with our bands up until that point. We started writing songs in Berkeley, then we went to Ireland to get ourselves positioned somewhere to record and play — somewhere we could make noise and not bother the neighbors. So we found a tower through Airbnb and booked it for a few weeks.

Q: Are we talking about a castle tower or water tower?

Ó Cíosóig: It’s a cannon tower. They’re big circular towers with thick walls so you can play music for as long as you want. The reverb has a natural decay. It’s really good for playing our kind of music. They were built as a defense against Napoleon, and he never came.

Hope Sandoval: They’re called Martello towers.

Q: You were both on big tours with your other bands before resuming this project. Does coming back to the Warm Inventions feel like home?

Ó Cíosóig: In a way it’s freer. The parameters are looser.

Sandoval: It’s something we come to when we’re not dealing with the other partners. We make the rules.

Q: You have both been doing this for almost three decades, but the music on this record evokes a lot of the same feelings as your debuts. How do you maintain that level of creativity?

Ó Cíosóig: I still feel I haven’t really started yet. A lot of bands are forced to release a lot of records. It’s not a very creative process to force yourself to make something. That takes a toll. That’s why we take our time. We let it breathe.

Sandoval: I never really thought about it. It’s just something I do. We get together, play music. We work with other people. It’s something we just really love. Sometimes it’s torture. It’s the kind of thing — even if you wanted to get rid of it, you couldn’t get rid of it. You would think you would grow out of it. But I don’t think it’s ever going to happen.

Q: What’s it like hearing your influence out in the world? It seems like there are a lot of bands taking cues from what you did with Mazzy Star and My Bloody Valentine.

Sandoval: I think it’s good. I’m a huge My Bloody Valentine fan. When I hear somebody imitating it, it’s like, cool, more to listen to.

Ó Cíosóig: There’s quite a few. We like bands like Beach House. We like what they do. That’s the nature of music — everything is influenced by something somehow.

Aidin Vaziri is The San Francisco Chronicle’s pop music critic. E-mail: avaziri@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @MusicSF

To see Hope Sandoval & the Warm Inventions’ “Let Me Get There (ft. Kurt Vile)”: https://youtu.be/pyRJYnAndT0

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***************************************************************************************************
2016, Nov. 3, JNSP (JENESAISPOP) INTERVIEW w. HOPE & COLM - ENGLISH translation from
the Spanish text.
http://jenesaispop.com/2016/11/03/27950 ... a-del-rey/
[the article's web page includes 1 photo + 3 yt videos embedded + 1 song embedded via Spotify, details below]

Hope Sandoval: "I Do Not Know Who Lana del Rey Is"
By JB 3 November 16
Image

The sum of Hope Sandoval of Mazzy Star plus Colm Ó Cíosóig of My Bloody of Valentine equals
The Warm Inventions, which is not one of the parallel groups that have a more high profile
in the world, among other things because they've released only two albums since forming in 2001,
but they are a group whose origin has received homage due to its two main members, as well as
the quality of their beautiful songs.Tomorrow, November 4, The Warm Inventions follow [2009's]
'Through the Devil Softly' with their third album titled 'Until the Hunter' which we discussed,
among other things, with Hope and Colm by phone, things collected here like on a record,
as you will notice in a moment.

-I wanted to start the interview by asking you about the cover of your new album. It's a jellyfish,
isn't it? Containing a landscape within it...It is a curious cover. What did you want to express with it?
In what way do you think that reflects the contents of the disc?

Hope: I don't think it's so different from our previous covers. It has more detail, perhaps...

Colm: It's bright.

-Kurt Vile sings and plays guitar in 'Let Me Get There'. How did this collaboration come about?
Are you fans of his?

Colm: One day, Hope and I were at a music store. Kurt Vile played in the background
and I asked who it was. We bought his albums and liked them. Hope thought it would be nice for
'Let Me Get There' to include a guest artist, so we asked Kurt and he accepted.

-The video is intriguing. It contains flying heads like shrunken heads... What did you want to
express with this video?

Hope: I do not think it's a dark video. We were influenced by the work of Maya Deren. it seems dark
because the colors are dark but the video images are cheerful.

Colm: It's a different love story that goes beyond the simple story of love, a
story that unfolds in another world.

-'Into the Trees' is very different from the rest of the album. It lasts 9 minutes
and is quite mystical.

Colm: I don't know what the story of 'Into the Trees' is, it's Hope's lyrics.

Hope: Someone I knew in London took me to the forest. And if neither of you know what
that means, you have to investigate...

-'I Took a Slip' is a song that attracts attention from the beginning. It is very vivid and contains
varied arrangements. What can you tell me about it?

Colm: 'I Took a Slip' was an acoustic song at first, but then began to grow, and
we took it to a different space with the help of our musicians. It is a song... "sacred"
like a church, lying as close by as ones hair.

-Is there any song that you can feel especially proud?

Colm: That's like asking a mother for her favorite son. I'm proud of them all.
What does pride mean? To be the most successful, or a song that has more interesting composition?

-I mean the song that makes you feel, as a composer, you've accomplished something greater than
anything you've done before.

Colm: (thinks) I hope Hope can answer that. I cannot point to one in particular.
I like them all. They all have good stories.

Hope: All are very good. If we did not think that of all of them, they would not be on the album.
My favorite changes every day. But today I'd say my favorite is 'Into the Trees'. When
we recorded it, we were just Colm and me; One day I bought a beautiful German organ.
It was the first time I played it, and we did a spectacular jam session in a tower,
Martello Tower it's called, in Ireland. The session was extremely long. We had a great time.
We drank wine until three o'clock in the morning. We could not stop listening to the song when
we recorded it. I love it, it has a very dark and magical story.

Colm: It was great recording in this tower. It's a different ambience than a studio, with
all those stone walls...

-Hope, you have sung on 'The Spoils' with Massive Attack. And you sang with the group, in fact,
in 2009, around the time of the previous Warm Inventions album...

Hope: Massive Attack and I have written a lot of songs together. I do not know how many already.
The group sends me ideas occasionally and asks me if I can add a vocal melody and lyrics,
and that's what happened with 'The Spoils'.

-Have you ever thought about recording a completely electronic record?

Hope: I do not think of music in those terms. If someone sends me music, I do not know what it is called,
do not know the style, I think more that they have sent me a keyboard melody, or a bass line... For
me it's just music. I do not know what electronic music is. Is it electric music?

-Do you know anything about a new Massive Attack album?

Hope: I have no idea what the group is doing but I'm sure they have plans to release an album.
I worked on a couple of songs for their project. The group has worked with several
artists and I think, at some point, they'll decide which songs they think fit better.

-Do you see the influence of Mazzy Star on current artists like Beach House or Lana del Rey?

Hope: Yes, but Beach House has a varied style, I do not think their latest album or
previous one sound like Mazzy Star, although I heard some influence on one of their albums,
I think 'Devotion'.

Colm: You can hear the influence of sound in Beach House but the group has its own style.

Hope: It's always positive to inspire someone with your work. It's bound to happen,
(Colm and I), we've been playing many years.

-'Ultraviolence' by Lana Del Rey is also quite Mazzy Star, don't you think?

Hope: I do not know who she is.

Colm: We have not heard the album. I know who she is but we have not heard the album.

Hope: I do not know who she is. Is she American?

-Yes, she's American, New York.

Hope: I do not know who she is, but will seek her out. I like the name.

-It's not her real name. Her name is Elizabeth Grant.

Hope: It's a good stage name.

-Hope, have you noticed any change in singing styles on talent shows,
programs like 'American Idol', for instance, singing styles characteristic of your own?

Hope: There have always been people with great voices and people with smaller voices. I do not
have a great voice, singing so quietly, I do not know how to use my voice like that.
If I did, I probably would (laughs).

-Colm, have you read the list of the best shoegaze albums at Pitchfork? [My Bloody Valentine's]
'Loveless' is number one. The other two albums of the group are also on it. I do not know if
you are interested in lists...

Colm: I have not read Pitchfork recently. Frankly, I'm not interested in lists,
but it is good to know that (laughs).

-Do you see the influence of My Bloody Valentine on current bands?

Colm: Yes, there are many current bands in which I hear the sound of My Bloody Valentine.
Then there are some tributes, such as a Japanese one called 'Yellow Loveless'
It is a very interesting and entertaining album. I have also noticed the influence of the band
in some modern metal groups, for example in the way they use guitars. It is
rare that our sound has reached other musical territories like this.

-Is there news of My Bloody Valentine? The band has not posted anything on social networks since 2014...

Colm: We are thinking of making a new record, maybe next year...
...................................................................................................
[These videos were embedded on the Jenesaispop article's web page]:

-Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions - Let Me Get There ft. Kurt Vile:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyRJYnA ... e=youtu.be
-Hope Sandoval and the Warm Inventions - Isn't it True:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzGWBWu ... e=youtu.be
-Massive Attack - The Spoils ft. Hope Sandoval:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r31DFr ... e=youtu.be
-[plus the page has the HS&TWI song "A Wonderful Seed" embedded via Spotify]
...................................................................................................
2016, Nov. 3, JNSP (JENESAISPOP) INTERVIEW w. HOPE & COLM - original SPANISH text
http://jenesaispop.com/2016/11/03/27950 ... um=twitter

Hope Sandoval: “No sé quién es Lana del Rey”
Por JB 03 nov 16, 12:46

Warm inventions La suma de Hope Sandoval de Mazzy Star y Colm Ó Cíosóig de My Bloody Valentine iguala
a The Warm Inventions, que no es una de las formaciones paralelas con más proyección mediática del mundo,
entre otras cosas porque ha editado solo dos discos desde su formación en 2001, pero sí una de las que
más culto ha recibido gracias al origen de sus dos integrantes principales así como a la calidad de sus
preciosas canciones. Mañana 4 de noviembre The Warm Inventions sucede a ‘Through the Devil Softly’ con un
tercer largo titulado ‘Until the Hunter’ sobre el que hablamos, entre otras cosas, con Hope y Colm que, sí,
por teléfono son tan recogidos como en disco, como percibiréis al instante.

Quería empezar la entrevista preguntándoos por la portada de vuestro nuevo disco. Es una medusa,
¿no? Que contiene un paisaje dentro… Es una portada curiosa. ¿Qué habéis querido expresar con ella?
¿En qué modo creéis que refleja el contenido del disco?
Hope: No creo que sea tan diferente a nuestras portadas anteriores. Tiene más detalle, quizás…
Colm: Es más luminosa.

Kurt Vile canta y toca la guitarra en ‘Let Me Get There’. ¿Cómo surgió esta colaboración?
¿Sois fans de él?
Colm: Un día, Hope y yo estábamos en una tienda de discos, Kurt Vile empezó a sonar de fondo
y pregunté quién era. Compramos sus discos y nos gustaron. Hope pensaba que estaría bien que
‘Let Me Get There’ incluyera a un artista invitado, así que se lo pedimos a Kurt y aceptó.

El videoclip es intrigante, contiene cabezas voladoras, como tzantzas… ¿Qué habéis querido
expresar con este vídeo?
Hope: No creo que sea un vídeo oscuro. Nos influyó el trabajo de Maya Deren. Parece oscuro
porque los colores son oscuros pero las imágenes del vídeo son alegres.
Colm: Es una historia de amor diferente, que va más allá de la simple historia de amor, una
historia que se desarrolla en otro mundo.

‘Into the Trees’ es muy distinta al resto del disco. Dura 9 minutos y es bastante mística.
Colm: No sé cuál es la historia de ‘Into the Trees’, Hope se sabe la letra.
Hope: Alguien a quien conocí en Londres me llevó al bosque. Y si ninguno de los dos sabéis lo
que eso significa, tendréis que investigar…

“Alguien a quien conocí en Londres me llevó al bosque [de eso habla ‘Into the Trees’]. Y si
ninguno de los dos sabéis lo que eso significa, tendréis que investigar…
– Hope Sandoval”

‘I Took a Slip’ es una canción que llama la atención desde el principio. Es muy vívida y contiene
arreglos muy variados. ¿Qué me puedes contar de ella?
Colm: ‘I Took a Slip’ era una canción acústica en principio, pero entonces empezó a crecer y
la llevamos a un espacio diferente con la ayuda de nuestros músicos. Es una canción… “sagrada”,
como de iglesia, tirado muy por los pelos…

¿Alguna canción del disco de la que os sintáis especialmente orgullosos?
Colm: Eso es como preguntarle a una madre por su hijo favorito. Estoy orgulloso de todas.
¿A qué se refiere ese orgullo? ¿A la canción más exitosa o a la que tiene la composición
más interesante?

Me refiero a la canción que te haga sentir, como compositor, que has logrado algo superior a
nada de lo que hayas hecho antes.
Colm: [Piensa] Espero que Hope pueda responderte a eso. Yo no puedo señalar una en particular.
Todas me gustan. Todas tienen buenas historias.
Hope: Todas son muy buenas, si no pensáramos eso de todas, no estarían en el disco. Mi
favorita cambia cada día. Pero hoy diría que mi favorita es ‘Into the Trees’. Cuando la
grabamos, éramos solo Colm y yo; entonces, un día compré un órgano precioso de Alemania.
Era la primera vez que lo tocaba e hicimos una sesión improvisada espectacular en una torre
en Irlanda llamada Martello Tower. La sesión fue larguísima, lo pasamos genial, tocamos y
bebimos vino hasta las tres de la mañana. No podíamos dejar de escuchar la canción cuando
la grabamos. Me encanta, tiene un rollo muy oscuro y mágico.
Colm: Fue genial grabar en esta torre. Es una atmósfera diferente a la del estudio, con
todas esas paredes de piedra…


Hope, has cantado en ‘The Spoils’ de Massive Attack. Ya cantaste con el grupo, de hecho,
en 2009, cuando salió el anterior disco de Warm Inventions…
Hope: Massive Attack y yo hemos escrito un montón de canciones juntos. No sé cuántas ya.
El grupo me envía ideas de vez en cuando y me pide si puedo pasarle una melodía vocal y
una letra y eso es lo que pasó con ‘The Spoils’.

¿Nunca has pensado en grabar un disco enteramente electrónico?
Hope: No pienso en la música en esos términos. Si alguien me envía música, no sé qué cómo se
llama, no sé el estilo, pienso más en que me han enviado una melodía de teclado, una línea de
bajo… Para mí solo es música. No sé ni qué es la música electrónica. ¿Es música eléctrica?

No sabes nada del disco de Massive Attack, ¿verdad?
Hope: No tengo ni idea de qué está haciendo el grupo pero seguro que tiene planes de sacar un
disco. He trabajado en un par de canciones para este proyecto. El grupo ha trabajado con varios
artistas y creo que, en algún momento, decidirá qué canciones encajan mejor en su concepto.

¿Percibes la influencia de Mazzy Star en artistas actuales como Beach House o Lana del Rey?
Hope: Sí pero Beach House tiene un estilo variado, no me parece que su último disco o el
anterior suenen a Mazzy Star, aunque sí escuché esta influencia en uno de sus discos, creo que ‘Devotion’.
Colm: Puedes escuchar la influencia de su sonido en Beach House pero el grupo tiene su propio estilo.
Hope: Siempre es positivo que alguien se inspire en tu trabajo. Está destinado a suceder,
[Colm y yo] llevamos tocando muchos años.

‘Ultraviolence’ de Lana Del Rey también es bastante Mazzy Star, ¿no crees?
Hope: No sé quién es.
Colm: No hemos escuchado el disco. Sé quién es pero no hemos oído el álbum.
Hope: No sé quién es. ¿Es americana?

Sí, es norteamericana, de Nueva York.
Hope: No sé quién es, la buscaré. Me gusta su nombre.

No es su nombre real, ella se llama Elizabeth Grant.
Hope: Se le ha ocurrido un buen nombre artístico.

Hope, ¿has percibido algún cambio en el modo de cantar que se lleva últimamente, por
ejemplo en los programas buscatalentos tipo ‘American Idol’, con el que te caracteriza?
Hope: Siempre ha habido gente con voces grandes y gente con voces más pequeñas. Yo no
tengo una voz grande, por eso canto tranquilamente, no sé cómo usar mi voz de esa manera,
si lo supiera, probablemente lo haría [ríe].

Colm, ¿has leído la lista de los mejores discos shoegaze de Pitchfork? ‘Loveless’ es número
uno. Los otros dos discos del grupo también salen. No sé si te interesan las listas…
Colm: No he leído Pitchfork en los últimos días. Francamente, no me interesan las listas
pero está bien saber eso [ríe].

¿Percibes la influencia de My Bloody Valentine en bandas actuales?
Colm: Sí, hay muchas bandas actuales en las que percibo el sonido de My Bloody Valentine.
Luego también han salido algunos tributos como uno japonés llamado ‘Yellow Loveless‘,
es un disco muy interesante y entretenido. También he percibido la influencia de la banda
en algunos grupos de metal modernos, por ejemplo en la manera que usan las guitarras. Es
raro que nuestro sonido haya llegado a otros territorios musicales como este.

¿Hay novedades de My Bloody Valentine? No publicáis nada en las redes sociales desde 2014…
Estamos pensando en hacer un disco nuevo, quizá el año que viene…
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2016, NOV. 4, L.A. WEEKLY INTERVIEW w. HOPE & COLM

http://www.laweekly.com/music/east-la-n ... ic-7575443
[this article's web page includes one photo, and on embedded video: Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions - Let Me Get There ft. Kurt Vile: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIpYJOi ... e=youtu.be

East L.A. Native Hope Sandoval Returns With Ethereal New Music
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2016, BY JORDANNAH ELIZABETH
Image

Hope Sandoval is easy to talk to if you understand her. She and her bandmate Colm Ó Cíosóig
(My Bloody Valentine) are patient with one another and have a very simple and trusting
chemistry. The Mazzy Star frontwoman and solo artist is soft-spoken and very articulate
about the little nuances of her world: the quirks of the Bay Area, Ireland, songwriting,
the golden age of '70s music, and growing up in East L.A.

Hope Sandoval & the Warm Inventions are releasing their third full-length studio album,
Until the Hunter, on Nov. 4. Like all of Sandoval's work, it's a hazy, subtle, confident
and extremely thoughtful work. I spoke with Sandoval and Ó Cíosóig via conference call while
she was in California and he was in Ireland.

-You recently dropped a duet with Kurt Vile, "Let Me Get There," as a single from your upcoming
album. How did you meet Kurt and how did you get him to sing on the album?

Hope Sandoval: We got into Kurt Vile about three years ago. We were at a drum shop in Dublin
and they were playing one of his records and it was amazing. ... That’s how we discovered him.
We thought it would be a good idea to have him sing on the track. Our manager got in touch with
him and he was totally into it. It just so happened that he was in town to play a show, so within
a week he came over and played on the track.

-Did you write all the lyrics to “Let Me Get There?”

H.S.: Well, we sent him the lyrics, which was a little weird because it is a love song, but he
showed up and he did his part and I did my part. Two total strangers.

-Are you often into collaborations with other artists, or do you and Colm stay at the core of the
songwriting and arranging?

Colm Ó Cíosóig: We had quite a few collaborations on the record. The band we [mainly] work with
is an Irish band called Dirt Blue Gene. They played on our last album and we get on really well,
they toured with us, so we brought them in again.

-Is there a core theme behind Until the Hunter? What was the inspiration behind the album?

C.O.: A lot of it was recorded in Ireland in these towers. The towers are hundreds of years old
and were built to defend Ireland against Napoleon. We had a great time. We could make as much
noise as we wanted and didn’t have to worry about the neighbors. The room had really natural sound,
a really nice controlled reverb.

-You two live in different parts of the world, Colm in Ireland and Hope on the West Coast of the
United States. How do you two manage making music together?

H.S.: We all just go back and forth. The boys come here, sometimes we go there. Right now,
I am in California and Colm is Ireland.

-You both have been making music for over 20 years. Have the times changed your process, as
technology and the way music is listened to and processed evolves?

H.S.: Not really. [Laughs] I suppose we do live a pretty isolated life. We show up every
four years and [make a record].

-Do you work to attract younger fans? Have you noticed your audience changing?

H.S.: We just allow anybody to listen to our music. All ages are allowed!
C.O.: Seniors especially.

-If someone walked up to you and said, “You can never do music again,”
what would you do?

C.O.: I would get into gardening.
H.S.: What kind of gardening, Colm? [Laughs]

-Hope, you’re from Los Angeles, right? What music influenced you when
you were growing up?

H.S.: Yes, I’m from East L.A.. My family is still in Los Angeles.
We listened to all sorts of music: Mexican music, oldies, soul, disco
and rock & roll. I was surrounded by music.

-Has there been anything really out there or different that has peaked your interest musically?

C.O.: We were very impressed by this street artist named Michael Masley who is really amazing.
He reinvents how to play instruments like dulcimers and autoharps and makes this strange,
ethereal music.
H.S.: He plays on this record and brought a lot of strange, really haunting sounds to the album.
He plays every weekend on the street near the BART station in Berkeley. He’s really amazing. His music is stunning.

Hope Sandoval & the Warm Inventions' Until the Hunter is out now on Tendril Tales.
More info at hopesandoval.com.
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2016, NOV. 4, BLITZ mag. INTERVIEW w. HOPE
http://blitz.sapo.pt/principal/update/2 ... e-Sandoval
[preview excerpt from a longer interview to be published in its entirety in Blitz
mag's next edition, out end of November]. Pasted here is my attempt at English translation
from the site's Portuguese text. The article's web site contains one photo, and one yt video:
Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions - Let Me Get There ft. Kurt Vile:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIpYJOi ... e=youtu.be ]
Image
Hope Sandoval
The American elections seem like "Disneyland on steroids," says Hope Sandoval

04.11.2016
The singer who today launches her new Until The Hunter album spoke with Blitz, in an interview
that you can read in the next edition of the magazine

LIA PEREIRA
Journalist
Hope Sandoval, the American singer best known as the lead singer of Mazzy Star, gave an interview this week
to Blitz on Until The Hunter, her new album with the Warm Inventions, in stores today.

The interview will be published in the next BLITZ, on newsstands at the end of November.

About the American elections, scheduled for November 8, Hope Sandoval says:

"What are we supposed to feel? It's frightening. But it's always like that. I don't believe
much has changed. Generally, the candidates all have scary skeletons in the closet.
I think the majority of Americans don't believe in any of the candidates.
We have that feeling of: let's see what happens! It probably won't be good.
It's like Disneyland on steroids. And people love Disneyland, that is funny."


Here is the video for the first single of Until The Hunter, "Let Me Get There", with Kurt Vile:
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2016, NOV. 4, BLITZ mag. INTERVIEW w. HOPE [preview excerpt from a longer interview to be published in its entirety in Blitz mag's next edition, out end of November]. Original Portuguese text from the site.



http://blitz.sapo.pt/principal/update/2 ... e-Sandoval
NOTÍCIAS

Hope Sandoval
As eleições americanas parecem “a Disneylândia com esteroides”, diz Hope Sandoval

http://blitz.sapo.pt/principal/update/2 ... e-Sandoval
04.11.2016 às 15h36
A cantora que hoje lança o novo Until The Hunter falou com a BLITZ, numa entrevista que poderá
ler na próxima edição da revista

Hope Sandoval, a cantora norte-americana mais conhecida como vocalista dos Mazzy Star, deu esta
semana uma entrevista à BLITZ sobre Until The Hunter, o seu novo disco com os Warm Inventions,
hoje nas lojas.

A conversa será publicada na próxima BLITZ, nas bancas no final de novembro.

Sobre as eleições norte-americanas, agendadas para o próximo dia 8 de novembro, diz Hope Sandoval:
"O que havemos de sentir? É assustador. Mas é sempre assim. Não me parece que muita coisa tenha
mudado. Geralmente, os candidatos têm todos esqueletos assustadores no armário. Acho que a maioria
dos americanos não acredita em qualquer dos candidatos".

"Estamos com aquela sensação de: vamos lá a ver o que acontece! Provavelmente não vai ser bom.
É como a Disneylândia com esteroides. E as pessoas adoram a Disneylândia, isso é que é
engraçado», remata.

Veja aqui o vídeo do primeiro single de Until The Hunter, «Let Me Get There», com Kurt Vile:

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2016, NOV. 4, BROOKLYN VEGAN site.
http://www.brooklynvegan.com/hope-sando ... se-new-lp/
A Ten-Song Playlist Assembled by Hope & Colm along with their own commentary on each song pick. Done for the Brooklyn Vegan site. The site has youtube versions of the songs embedded on the page. After hearing all 10 songs by now, it's a fairly eclectic and quite enjoyable playlist, imo... Here's a Quiz/Game: Qu.: Which of the two, Hope or Colm, do you think wrote each of the 10 commentaries? I think there are some small clues evident! -Hermesacat/Bob B.
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Hope Sandoval and the Warm Inventions made us a playlist (listen), release new LP
Image

By Andrew Sacher November 4, 2016
Hope Sandoval and the Warm Inventions (aka Mazzy Star’s Hope Sandoval and My Bloody Valentine’s Colm Ó Cíosóig) return today with Until the Hunter, their first album in seven years and third album total. (It, among other things, features a Kurt Vile duet.) It’s a great album and you can stream it and read our review, and order yours.Hope and Colm made us a playlist of ten songs they’ve been listening to, with commentary on each. It includes legends like Bert Jansch and Captain Beefheart, plus smaller, newer artists like Ora Cogan and Daydream Machine. The whole thing is very worth checking out, and you can do that below.
The Ora Cogan song is off her 2010 album The Quarry, but she’s actually about to drop a new album this month, Shadowland. She’s also on tour right now, including a show that Grouper is DJing at. All dates here.
-1 Orange Cake Mix – Streetlights and Stars
https://youtu.be/0VVY2w87Do0
This is from a great album that Hope and I used to listen to way back when we first started making music together… just recently revisited and it still sounds fresh and beautiful…
-2 Ora Cogan – Daughter
https://youtu.be/ms3HcwwMYGc , OR:
https://oracogan.bandcamp.com/track/daughter
This gorgeous woman opened one of our West Coast shows. This is a great record, so glad she found us.
-3 The Floaters – Float On
https://youtu.be/_D5fGLOLSwI
The party hasn’t started until this song is being played…
-4 Erykah Badu – Soldier
https://youtu.be/BsEVAYVX6Wc
Love, Love, Love, Erykah Badu! This is a very powerful track, this song tells a true story and everybody should be enlightened by it.
-5 Daydream Machine – And I Love Her
https://youtu.be/aOf6oaJfr7Y
This track is dark and lovely.
-6 Broadcast with The Focus Group – Witch Cults
https://youtu.be/OqINetENovg
...spent a lot of time listening to Broadcast and recently just discovered The Focus Group … great electronic explorations ...
-7 Bert Jansch – Blues Run The Game
https://youtu.be/4MO_Xxq3LVw
Here’s a great video capturing Bert in a beautiful rendition of Blues Run the Game… We miss him…
-8 The Greenhornes feat Holly Golightly – There is an End
https://youtu.be/4b3GdDnWibU
A great song and cool sound.
-9 Captain Beefheart – I m Gonna Booglarize You Baby
https://youtu.be/ZhWi_UXjM3s
What’s a playlist without some raucous Beefheart ! Love the guitar interplay and riffing.
-10 Kali Uchis – What They Say
https://youtu.be/teFFijPbqK4
Just recently heard this girls music at The Pretty Penny vintage shop. Love it. This track sounds like an oldie, supercool!
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2016, Nov. 8, NOISEY/VICE (English, U.S.) HOPE & COLM INTERVIEW
[this article's web page includes two photos and two embedded yt videos:
Let Me Get There ft. Kurt Vile:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIpYJOi ... e=youtu.be
-Hope Sandoval And The Warm Inventions - Liquid Lady
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Em2dH8b ... e=youtu.be ]
https://noisey.vice.com/en_us/article/f ... ytwitterus
Image

Fragility and Strength: Cracking Hope Sandoval and the Warm Inventions
Joanie Wolkoff
Nov 8 2016

She was the frontwoman of Mazzy Star, he was in My Bloody Valentine. We talk kazoos,
'TigerBeat' pin-ups, and the scrutiny of the spotlight with the shy duo.
In the ever-churning waters of popular culture, many a seafarer has vanished on the
hunt for that rarest of treasures: long term relevance. Charting a unique course, Hope
Sandoval and Colm Ó Cíosóig, have stood at the helm of their shared project, Hope Sandoval
and the Warm Inventions, for some 15 years, and for any recent 90s-o-philia inductees,
the two trail-blazed through the last decade of the 20th century in landmark bands Mazzy
Star and My Bloody Valentine, respectively.

Sandoval and Cíosóig's music survived the expansion and rupture of the great tech bubble,
the first Gulf War, Rwandan genocide, Y2K prepper mania, Bill Clinton playing saxophone
on the Arsenio Hall Show, ice-skating scandals, and Pogs. Time takes nothing from the duo.
Today, Colm lives on a barge in Dublin, which he steers out for pizza brunch; he likes ocean
swims. Hope, who hangs her hat in Berkeley, California has long captivated and puzzled fans
and the press with her sphinx-like interview game, belying an illustrious career and
collaborations with Jesus and Mary Chain, Beth Orton, The Chemical Brothers, Bert Jansch,
Death in Vegas, and Massive Attack.

This past Friday, Hope Sandoval and the Warm Inventions released their latest long-awaited
third offering, Until the Hunter. Featuring lo-fi indie royalty Kurt Vile, cimbalom virtuoso
Michael Masley, and psych-folk siren Mariee Sioux, the album flits from pulsating drone to
tender, sunlit folk and then alights somewhere along the perimeters of country-gothic,
largely recorded largely in Ireland's 19th century defensive forts, the Martello Towers.
Given Sandoval's notorious dislike of interviews and aversion to chit-chat, almost everything
I'd ever heard about this thick-as-thieves collaboration led me to believe that I'd have to
climb a Napoleonic tower of solid masonry to get them talking shop. But it turns out that
besides being cool as hell, Sandoval and Ó Cíosóig are nice as pie.

-Noisey: Tell us of the towers.

Colm: We were attracted to the towers because they're a soundproofed place that's not a studio.
You can play music and not bother people and the sound itself is nice and reverb-y but not too
reverb-y because it's circular and dome shaped. They're next to the sea, so there's a lot of
sea salt.

-Were Michael Masley's ghostly sound effects on a couple of the tracks inspired by that ambience?

Hope: Actually, we worked with Michael in Berkeley. But he's the type of artist who doesn't
even need that atmosphere. He's just already ghostly and magical and amazing. He lives in his
head. He would've just loved the towers.

Colm: It would've been difficult to get him to Dublin. Maybe fly him over on a dragon.

-Is there any other way to arrive at a tower in Dublin than on a flying dragon?

Colm: Not really, no.

-I gather these centuries-old fortifications were divided into officers' quarters, gun powder
storage areas and topped with a cannon platform. Did you guys explore those layers of history
at all or have the spaces been modernized?

Hope: The two towers that we recorded at are homes, done up with kitchens and bedrooms.
I never went to the very bottom where they used to keep the gunpowder and all. I sort of stayed
away from that, but I think Colm did.

Colm: That's where I slept!

-The creepiest part of the structure. Any bumps in the night?

Hope: There were strange noises and I spent a couple of nights by myself in [the towers] and
you really don't wanna do that. You wanna avoid that as much as possible. It can get really
scary. I mean nobody's gonna hear anything if something happens to you in there.

-Nevermind supernatural encounters, if you stub your toe and fall, no one's gonna come help you.

Hope: Well, the towers are really beautiful and isolated and stunning.

-The production on this album really lends itself to a sense of location. Between the sleepy
pedal steel on "The Peasant" by Dirt Blue Gene and Marianne Sioux's backing vocals on a couple
of tracks, you've amassed a whole little community. What about the warmth of Kurt Vile's call
and response vocals on "Get Me There?" Are we listening to a conversation between lovers?

Hope: It is definitely a love song.

-I love his non lyrical vocals on that track.

Colm: Yeah, we love those parts. Little animal sounds.

Hope: He used that old fashioned term for them—you know, scat.

-I caught that clippy-cloppy percussion instrument you guys used on "The Hiking Song." Was that
a castanette?

Hope: Colm played that. We basically just invented that instrument. It's a wooden box and we put
some kind of weird scented Mexican twigs in it. My brother got them. And you know, you light
them and they scent up the room. They added this really cool castanet sound.

-The closing ballad, "Liquid Lady," really mesmerizes with your shadowy lyrics and the 3/4 time
signature. You sing about a villain who "quickly woke and wrapped [you] in his coat," which got
me thinking about whether musicians need some degree of darkness to create an impactful song
narrative, or just art at large.

Hope: Well I know I do.

-How do you go about locating it?

Hope: I don't think I seek it out. I think it's just around all the time.

Colm: Hope's very good at eavesdropping in restaurants.

-I mean, isn't calamity waiting around every corner to be worked over creatively? It's 2016,
we're looking at a good degree of global dread. Do you guys think evil is a real thing, or
does all of this fall somewhere on a sliding scale?

Colm: That's a pretty heavy question. Well, [evil] seems real but it also seems misguided.
It's not a physical thing. It's more a misappropriation of conscious directions. Or maybe
there is real evil out there. Look at the history and some of the craziness that's happening
now. You wonder, is there actual, pure evil? Or is this an escalation of the consequences of
misdeeds?

Hope: I'm still in my PJs.
Image

-Fair enough. On a lighter note, if you traveled back in time to when the Martello Towers were
built and had to go into battle against Napoleon? What would you play your battle song on?

Colm: The kazoo. They'd be so scared by you on your kazoo. They'd see you and say, "Oh dear,
let's not go there."

-They might think you were a powerful time traveler. I don't think they had kazoos yet. Your
enemies would run off and then you could just have a cookout.

Colm: Exactly. You'd freak them out.

-A movie plot in the making. Colm, have you been working much with film of late?

Colm: Unfortunately my 16mm camera has seized up and it's very hard to find anyone to repair
these. There's actually nobody in Ireland who can repair these cameras.

-Maybe someone in the US will read this and reach out with an offer. There are still a few
outliers who haven't given up on physical filmstock or turnable pages. Do you miss the
relationship with print, where you'd pick up a music magazine and hold it in your hands as
opposed to scrolling through text on a screen?

Colm: Definitely. I do, anyway.

Hope: I don't. I never picked up any print magazines. Actually, I have to take that back.
I have to say, I had some TigerBeat Magazines. You're probably too young to know what that
is but you can Google it.

-Are you kidding? I used to read them in my bedroom and tear out all the pictures of my
dreamy crushes.

Hope: Well, I admit that I did have some of those.

-Did you put any of the TigerBeat heartthrob centerfold posters on your wall?

Hope: I'm sure I did. Probably everyone that was in TigerBeat I was in love with.

-Colm, if 2016 you could meet 13 year old you, around the time you discovered punk, what
would you say to him?

Colm: I'd say get behind that drum kit and start playing the hell out of them.

-Hope, growing up in East LA, were you influenced by Mexican music? What did you guys listen to
when you were growing up?

Hope: Definitely Spanish music. My parents played a lot of it. I have a lot of brothers and
sisters and I was influenced by all of them.

Colm: My mom used to play Françoise Hardy. Punk rock was the generation of music my older
sister was listening to. I was so happy when punk rock arrived. It arrived at the right time
and I was the right age- twelve, thirteen, thereabout.

-What's your take on some of the genre labels given to the work you've done like shoegazer,
paisley underground, art rock, or drone?

Colm: It's mostly marketing. Any terms that came up all seemed kind of silly. You wouldn't
really associate with terms like that. You'd be into certain bands but you couldn't quite
see a movement. They always like to create movements in England. [They're] obsessed with
movements, so it was always kind of funny in that sense, to see the terms they came up with.
Back then, there were three competing weekly music papers—Melody Maker, Sounds, and New
Musical Express — so they were inventing new music movements nearly every week. We'd buy them
kind of religiously as kids, stuff with new bands, you know. But when they did create a new
movement, it was kind of exciting and you'd get into it.

-What are your thoughts on "staying real" in music today?

Hope: It is absolutely possible. The majority of artists do it. All you do is take a guitar,
play and write. Just be true to yourself. I think one of the big mistakes people make is to
have fame as one of their main goals. That is the biggest mistake when you're creating art.

-Colm, your early career saw you making ends meet in some pretty real situations. Didn't you
used to break into abandoned government housing when you were low on funds?

Colm: I was advised by a British government official that my best housing option in England
was to squat in a council house. It's changed. Margaret Thatcher, the Wicked Witch of the
East, came in and changed the rules. It's possible today, people still do it. But the
legalities aren't the same [anymore]. You're not protected by the law as you used to be.
You have to be brazen enough and deal with the cops and weirdos turning up.

-Any advice for first time squatters?

Colm: Well, you have to get in and put your own lock on the door, first. Hopefully the place
has a way to be heated. Get hooked up to the power—by stealing it, if possible. Or if it has
a fireplace, you can have a fire, which keeps it warm. You need security and warmth. And then
you make yourself a nice cup of tea.

-Hope, did you ever find yourself holding your life together with the proverbial shoestring
before you got established?

Hope: Never like Colm. I think that's a pretty rare experience that he had. It definitely
made him stronger. He never has to worry. If he doesn't have the money, he knows how to survive.

Colm: I have no regrets. I'll actually help people out to break into spots here.

-You guys have both ended up sidestepping the snare of corporatized music to an impressive
degree while remaining known to a large public. Hope, I know that you struggled in the
mid-90s in order to maintain your creative autonomy and broke a major contract with Capitol
Records after you went platinum with Mazzy Star. What was it like to push back against a
major label rather than go along with production choices and songwriting formulas they
proposed?

Hope: We wanted to do our thing and that's what became really important. I wanted to work
with Colm. And I didn't want to do what Capitol Records wanted me to do.

-Did you find yourself staring at a fancy executive Newton's Cradle clicker paperweight on
a big desk with some powerful bald middle aged white guy behind it while you negotiated your…

Hope: I absolutely did not have have to do that. I had a manager. He had to do it!

-So the rupture with Capitol happened through a middleman?

Hope: Yeah. I've been lucky. I've had the same manager for over 20 years. It's like an old
marriage.

-Did breaking free from such a major label deal come as a relief?

Hope: We were really happy, but we were broke. We ran out of money, quick. It was back to
the old days, after that. There were some hard times, but everybody experiences hard times.

-I can't help but feel as you answer all these questions like you've been misunderstood by the
press. I mean, sure, you're not one for onstage banter, you're known for turning the lights
down low and pretty non-traditional live performance behavior. Fine, maybe you're not wild
about interviews. But our conversation here's got me wondering, what have you done that a
fair number of other successful musicians haven't done in terms of firmly setting boundaries
with the public? Why do you think it's been so off-putting to journalists?

Hope: I don't read press, so that's news to me.

-You've been quoted over the years as saying stuff during shows like, "I don't need you to
love me, I need you to shut the fuck up," or, "If this glockenspiel isn't mic'd in five
minutes, we're out of here." Pretty badass. I hear you've walked off stage more than once,
too. Do you remember those situations?

Hope: Yeah, I do. There were a lot of problems with the microphones and what I actually
said was, "If the crew doesn't get it together, everybody will get their money back."
Obviously nobody likes it when you walk offstage, including your band. So that's just
not the right thing to do. I have done it a few times in my life!

-You've been described as fragile. Do you think you're fragile?

Hope: Yeah, a little bit. What do you think, Colm?

Colm: Yeah, she's a little bit fragile, but she could bite the head off me any day!

Hope: That is so funny. It's probably Colm who's the more fragile one.

Colm: I'm actually more fragile.

-If there was a way for you to share your music with a live audience but reconfigure
the age-old notion of performance to be more comfortable, what would that look like?

Hope: I think if people wore blindfolds — including myself — it would be a lot easier.
The biggest problem for people who get really, really nervous when they perform live
is that you think everybody's looking at you. It's really unnatural for us.

-Well, your fans do want to see you at close range. But if you want showgoers to wear
blindfolds to your next show, this interview could be a good way to tell them.

Hope: You're so funny!

-Do you feel that you're being scrutinized?

Hope: Well, yeah. I mean, you put yourself up there and you're playing
and singing your deepest thoughts and it's really scary. But at the
same time it's amazing when you have great live shows and everybody's
getting along in the band. I've always loved playing music and I always
will. Overall my experiences have been great.

-There are people who just love to watch you to perform. Your physical
presence is meaningful for them. I've seen your face referred to online,
adoringly in caps, as THE FACE. Does that feel creepy and objectifying,
or do you like the idea that you inspire love in people?

Hope: I suppose it's nice. I definitely hope that my music does.

-Colm, you probably get sick of hearing about THE FACE. You're like,
"When does my face get a turn? When are people gonna start looking at
my hands as they delicately play the glockenspiel and mysteriously
transport everyone, huh?"

Colm: Exactly. That what I've been saying to Hope all the time.

-Colm, have you seen this galvanizing effect Hope has on people?

Colm: I've heard people through the grapevine saying "Hm, Hope's got a bit
of a crazy attitude" and I've seen a few episodes where she's stormed
offstage. I've been witness to it.

-But don't a number of career musicians do that at some point when their
patience has reached its limit?

Colm: Well, yeah.

Hope: Colm, have you ever done it?

Colm: Stormed offstage, no. I've wandered off when things have fallen apart,
just scratching my head.

Until the Hunter is out now via Tendril Tales.

Joanie Wolkoff makes music as Wolkoff. Follow her on Twitter.
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2016, NOV. ROUGH TRADE MAG. - ISSUE 8 (Nov., 2016), interv. w. Hope & Colm
[transcript made from scans of hard copy pages of the mag. Rough Trade does not sell digital copies
of their magazine, only hard copies]
Image

[-Thanks go to webmaster Emma here who has embedded all eight Rough Trade mag. page scans that have lots of colourful graphics, in this same thread in a separate post. Go to PAGE 2 of this thread, and scroll down to see them].

Rough Trade's Album of the Month
Until The Hunter, By Hope Sandoval And The Warm Springs
Words by Delia Archer
Images by Minna Gilligan
Photos in collage by Luz Gallardo and John Engle

Celia Archer of The Big Moon spoke to Hope Sandoval and Colm O'Ciosoig about Until the Hunter, the duo's
latest album that was recorded in an old Martello tower in Ireland. Here they discuss the art of never not recording, the magic of weed and red wine, and the processes they use to create songs that beautiful.

Until the Hunter is the third album from Hope Sandoval, of Mazzy Star, and Colm O'Ciosoig, of My Bloody Valentine, in their joint project Hope Sandoval and the Warm Inventions.They had enough material for two albums and Colm wanted to split the songs over one electronic album and one acoustic.The final decision to combine the two styles makes for a beautiful mixture of close, folk-like pastorals and expansive electronic soundscapes in which you'd struggle to discern how each noise is produced.

Across all of them, Hope's trademark voice weaves in and out, sometimes whispering in your ear and sometimes drenched in reverb and used as another instrument, blending into one tone or or being enveloped by another.

Hope has always famously resisted intrusion by way of the press, and is a fine role model for how to live life quietly while still being a successful and prolific musician. She and Colm are continually writing, producing and recording in a way that comes naturally, rather than simply generating content, and it is all created very much on their own terms. I spoke to them on a conference call and found myself slowing down, and leaving space in the conversation while fighting the urge to probe or insist on qualifications.They were warm, interesting and said only as much as they wanted to. Everything else I needed to find out was right there in the music.

[Celia Archer]:
-I guess the first thing I want to know is how the album came together and what the recording process was like?

COLM: We had a bit of time off and we were hanging out in Hope's house in Berkeley and just started writing some songs. Then we came to Ireland and managed to get this place to play
in that was an old Martello tower: a defence against Napoleon who never actually turned up. It was great because it had really thick walls so you can play all night. It didn't have that studio atmosphere but had a really great sound inside the main chamber so it was ideal for us to start jamming with our backing band Dirt Blue Gene. They were with us for the last album and we're connected so it's very comfortable to sit down and write with them.

-Do you write separately and then bring ideas together?

HOPE: Sometimes we write separately but for the most part we write together.

COLM: Sometimes I'll come up with something on a guitar and Hope will shout down the stairs, "Hey! Record that!"

HOPE: Or I'll say, "Oh, can I write some lyrics to that?" or, "I want to sing on that!"

-Do songs ever grow from writing the lyrics first?

HOPE: Sometimes I'll look into other words and things that I say to get ideas, but usually I listen to the music and
start singing and mumbling, and then it'll turn into something.

-When do you know that it's going to become an album?

COLM: Once we have a collection of songs then it starts taking shape and we'll be like, "OK, that's good enough to take to the listeners on a journey." We like albums, we're kind of old fashioned in that sense. We like a beginning, a middle and an end, and then once you finish it you can go back to the beginning and it falls around.

-And you're putting this out on your own label,
Tendril Tales. What's that like?

COLM: Well it's been good. We like the idea of taking independent music into the future where it's kind of artist-
run, so we can make all the decisions we want. I guess it's a little easier for us because we've had records out already and we've managed to get a distribution deal which really helps keep the whole thing operating

HOPE: We work with this graphic designer on the website but aside from that we're involved in practically every detail.

COLM: Yeah, we put something up on the website that doesn't have any information. It just is what it is. There's a serious lack of mystery on the internet these days. People give away too much information.

-How do you feel about that in relation to interviews? How much do you want to give away?

HOPE: We were just talking about this. It's sort of a strange thing to be having a conversation with somebody that you've never met and answering questions about yourself. But sometimes it's really nice! We had a conversation with this woman yesterday and we had all these people in common, and that was cool. We had a really, really great conversation and you'd have to say "Let's get back to the interview!"
It was basically socialising. And that's when it's nice, you know? That's when it's fun.

-Do you go and see a lot of live music? Is that your preferred method of discovering things?

HOPE: I don't, Colm does. But that's how we found Mariee Sioux when she was playing a show. That's how we got
introduced to her.

COLM: She's a great singer, guitar player, songwriter and storyteller. That's why the live experience is great,
when you discover something new that you've never heard of. But we still discover stuff online, like Connan Mockasin's videos.

HOPE: We went to see him live too. He's amazing.

COLM: He has this hypnotic ability to get everyone to take their clothes off.

-How about the other people involved in the album?

HOPE: Well there's Michael Masley. he's a street musician in the Bay area in California and we just heard him playing in the street and he's really amazing. He basically makes his own instrument. We took his card and gave him a call.

COLM: He's got an ability to pull sounds from the oddest instruments. He was playing this massive gong with kitchen utensils.

-And Kurt Vile?

HOPE: Well we were in a drum shop in Dublin and they were playing his music and we just loved it. But the funny thing was, we asked the guy who was playing it and when he told us the name Colm said, "Oh I just met him two weeks ago, I played a show with him!" So we asked Kurt if he'd be into doing a song. It was weird because it's a love song and we didn't know him, I'd never met him. That same week that we asked him, he was going to be in town playing a show at the Filmore, so he came over to the studio for a few hours just before his soundcheck. We had wine and beer and champagne, and I don't know what else, and we did the track and it was nice.

-Wow, so it happened that quickly?

HOPE: Yeah!

COLM: A lot of the time that's how things go, once we get into a session then we just try and get it down fast.
If you've got that creative energy you want to catch it quickly.

-And how did you two meet and start working together?

COLM: It was in London at Snowpony's show. Hope was going to see them and then you made it known to me that
you wanted to talk to me...

HOPE: Well what happened was the person that I was there with that night said, "Do you know who that man is over there? That's Colm O'Ciosoig," and I said, "Oh you have to introduce me! He's the best drummer." I'm a huge fan of Colm's band so I forced the person to introduce me because they had just been on tour with them. I just
insisted.

COLM: And she invited me for an audition.

HOPE: (laughs) No, it was supposed to be a really good jam session! Some really amazing people showed up to
do it.

COLM: But unfortunately the guy who ran the studio had some really strong weed and I got super stoned. I was
really pathetic, I hit about three drums.

HOPE: But we had a good time, everybody was having some of that magical stuff that was being passed around.

COLM: Anyway, I thought that I'd failed the audition but we became friends and started jamming some music
together. Hope went back to California and I just followed her.

-I'm quite interested in what a typical day looks like and how making music comes into your daily life?

COLM: Well we like to go hiking in the morning first thing, that's kind of where "The Hiking Song" on the
album comes from. A good way to start the day is to get out into nature. We listen to our music while we're out
to see how the songs are going. Then later on in the afternoon we'll just get into playing some music.
We'll plough away and get a direction, or a place to go musically, and then start recording. That'll keep
going throughout the evening, until it's time to open a bottle of wine.

-Are you good at knowing when to let a song be finished?

HOPE: I don't think we do a lot of tweaking.

COLM: No, things usually fall into place fairly quickly. Stuff that's overworked sounds overworked. We hate using
Pro Tools to face-lift and tidy everything up. We leave some mistakes in there. It just feels better. A lot
of the time we analyse our mix to these shitty little speakers in my truck. Sometimes it's good to analyse
stuff through the crappiest of speakers.

- And it sounds like you go to lots of different places to make music?

HOPE: Well we like to be able to play music as loud as we want, so we rent a cabin where there's nothing
around. It's pretty isolated, like the tower, and we're surrounded by nature. It's beautiful and
inspiring.

COLM: It's that aspect of being away from people and the vibration of people. The buzzing in the
surround. It clears a space, like a little oasis, for your own mind to roam freely. And also to be able to play loud.

- Do you visit places that aren't kind of music holidays, or is there always music making going on?

COLM: Actually it seems weird to go for a holiday without bringing some stuff along, even if it's just
an acoustic guitar. It would be great to be able to take the whole set up around, and the whole band.

-Just in case?

COLM: Yeah, just in case you strike gold.

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2016, Nov. 8, REFINERY 29 INTERV w. HOPE (republished by yahoo U.K.)

http://www.refinery29.uk/mazzy-star-hop ... -interview
https://uk.style.yahoo.com/mazzy-stars- ... 00431.html
[this article's web page includes one photos and two embedded yt videos:
-Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions - Let Me Get There ft. Kurt Vile:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIpYJOi ... e=youtu.be
-Mazzy Star - "Fade Into You" (Official Video) HD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJ9E0mC ... e=youtu.be ]
Image

Mazzy Star's Hope Sandoval On American Honey, The '90s & Her New Album


GILLIAN ORR 08 November 2016

There's a scene in everyone's new favourite film, American Honey, in
which Shia LaBeouf's character, Jake, picks up our heroine, Star, in
a stolen convertible. As they drive into the desert, Mazzy Star's
"Fade Into You" plays out, providing one of the stand-out movie
soundtrack moments of the year.

What is quite remarkable, however, is that a film which draws on some
of the most talked-about current artists chose to accompany this bit
of youthful reckless abandon with a song from 1993. But, then, there
has always been a timeless feel to Mazzy Star. Love, longing and hope
are hardly assigned to decades, after all.

Now the band's frontwoman, Hope Sandoval, is back with a new album,
Until The Hunter. This time she is joined by just one of her Mazzy Star
bandmates, Colm Ó Cíosóig, under the alias The Warm Inventions.

At 50 years old, Hope is not quite the checked skirt-clad ingénue that
Tumblr and #tbt still obsess over. But that haunting voice is unmistakable.
It has barely changed in over 20 years.

Refinery 29 spoke to Hope about her new record, her appearance on this
year's hottest soundtrack and why, even now, she's still terrified to
go out on stage.

-How does Until The Hunter 's story resonate with your life over the
last few years?

This is a collection of songs we have been working on over the last
few years and so the album reflects that journey the music takes us on.
Like most writers, we write about things that we are surrounded by;
good experiences and sometimes bad experiences.

-You release music quite sporadically. Is this because you like to take
time away from music and do other things or is it for other reasons?

We like to take our time experimenting with different ideas and
creating new sounds until we feel satisfied that we've accomplished
something mind-expanding.

-What do you like to do when you’re not in the studio or on the road?

I like to hang out in restaurants and cafés, eavesdrop on people's
conversations and collect new stories. Then I go home and spend
the evenings embellishing them.

-How did you team up with Kurt Vile? Who approached who?

Myself and Colm were in a drum store in Dublin and Kurt's music was
playing in the background. We fell in love with his music and when we
wrote "Let Me Get There" we thought it would be a good idea to turn it
into a duet but we needed the perfect male velvet voice and of course
that was Kurt. We were very lucky that he agreed to it. I can't imagine
the song without him now.

-How did it come about that you directed the video for “Let Me Get There”?

The video was a collaboration between a few different people. My brother
is an artist and he created the sculptures. The video naturally came
together with everybody's individual ideas. We were very much inspired
by Maya Deren's films.

-Who have you been enjoying listening to recently?

I have been listening to a lot of Erykah Badu, Ora Cogan and
Marlene Dietrich.

-What is your reaction when people say they are influenced by you?

We are all inspired by each other. That's the great thing about music;
it's one big collage of everybody's interpretations of each other.

-How do you find performing these days?

I still have difficulties performing on stage but it has always been
important to me to play the songs in person for the audience. There
is nothing like the energy that is exchanged between the music and
the people in a live show.

-Is reaching a large audience something that interests you?

I've always been more comfortable being the unpopular girl at the party.
It's about the music and remaining true to yourself. If some people
like it, that's always a nice thing.

-Your voice still sounds the same as when you were in you 20s. What are
your secrets to keeping it sounding so fresh?

No smoking, no unnecessary chitter chatter, plenty of sleep and a lot
of sign language...

-Have you seen American Honey? It seems to have introduced you to another
generation of fans. Your music has also appeared in Stealing Beauty.
How do you decide what films to allow your music to be used in? Do you
get many requests?

We usually say yes as we like to be supportive of filmmakers and artists.
I have not seen American Honey but I have been hearing a lot of great
things about it and will definitely check it out. It's always flattering
when a director wants to use our music in a film.

-You so often work with men, is this a conscious decision? What have your
experiences working with women been like?

I work with a lot of great women and a lot of great men – a good artist
is a good artist. I don't focus on gender; I focus on talent.

-Many people still reference your style in the '90s. Do you find that
flattering or is it something you’re a little uncomfortable with?

No not at all, the '90s were a fabulous time and a lot of great bands
emerged from that era.

-Until The Hunter by Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions is out now on Tendril Tales.
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2016, Nov. 4, LESINROCKS,
http://www.lesinrocks.com/musique/criti ... e-hunters/
[My attempted English translation from the original French text.
[The article's web page has one photo and one video embedded:
Hope Sandoval and the Warm Inventions - Isn't it True:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzGWBWu ... e=youtu.be ]


Image

Hope Sandoval and The Warm Inventions return after years of absence
by Jérôme Provençal

Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions - Until the Hunter
Tendril Tales

Breaking a long silence, the band comes back to haunt us with its
dreamy folk on a bewitching third album.

A project started on impulse at the cusp of the 2000s by the beautiful
and smoky singer of Mazzy Star, in partnership with Colm O Cíosóig
(former drummer of My Bloody Valentine), Hope Sandoval and the Warm
Inventions is a group that likes to take its time. Eight years passed
between their first album, Bavarian Fruit Bread (2001), and the second,
Through the Devil Softly (2009).

It has been necessary to wait "only" seven years for the third album
to appear. "Until the Hunter" was released by Tendril Tales, their
own label that was created recently, and it surpasses "Seasons of Your
Day," Mazzy Star's return album that appeared In the meantime (in 2013).
Like the previous two, this new opus arrives in autumn, the ideal
season to enjoy this music and its deep languor that's not at all
monotonous.

Hope Sandoval and Colm O Cíosóig have called on faithful companions -
the Irish group Dirt Blue Gene, the singer Mariee Sioux, who sings
backing vocals, and street musician Michael Masley -- as well as a
guest of choice: Kurt Vile. The latter was solicited for the duet,
"Let Me Get There," a cotton-wool ballad which unravels slowly over
more than seven minutes. Containing eleven songs in total, the album
starts with "Into the Trees," a long (nine minutes) - oh how -
magnetic droning melody chanted by an electric organ, on which
hangs the poisonous shadow of Nico.

"Basically, the song was even longer. It was born from a very special
session. It was only the two of us, Colm and me, and we played for
hours, at night: a unique and very strong experience," says Hope
Sandoval, true to her reputation in an interview richer in sighs
and silences than words. Propelled from the outset with this sublime
song, the listener is kept in high altitude throughout an album that
is very high flying, marked out with several other peaks (notably
"Salt of the Sea" and "I Took a Slip").

As Colm O Cíosóig tells us, "music has the capacity to take you
elsewhere, into another emotional space, close to the space of dreams"
- a space inside which this new album gravitates to superbly,
as it irresistibly enchants.

..........................................................................
[original French text]:
Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions reviennent après des années d’absence
par Jérôme Provençal

Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions - Until the Hunter
Tendril Tales - La Baleine

Brisant un long silence, la bande revient nous hanter avec son folk
rêveur sur un troisième album ensorcelant.
Projet impulsé à l’orée des années 2000 par la belle et ombrageuse
chanteuse de Mazzy Star, en duo avec Colm O Cíosóig (ancien batteur
de My Bloody Valentine), Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions est un
groupe qui aime prendre son temps. Huit ans s’étaient écoulés entre
le premier album, Bavarian Fruit Bread (2001), et le deuxième,
Through the Devil Softly (2009).

Il aura fallu en attendre “seulement” sept pour découvrir le troisième,
ce merveilleux Until the Hunter qui sort chez Tendril Tales, leur
propre label tout récemment créé, et qui surpasse nettement Seasons of
Your Day, l’album du retour de Mazzy Star paru dans l’intervalle
(en 2013). Comme les deux précédents, ce nouvel opus arrive en automne,
la saison idéale pour goûter cette musique et sa profonde langueur pas
du tout monotone.

Hope Sandoval et Colm O Cíosóig ont fait ici appel à de fidèles
compagnons de route – le groupe irlandais Dirt Blue Gene, la chanteuse
Mariee Sioux, qui assure (en beauté) les backing vocals, et le musicien
de rue Michael Masley – ainsi qu’à un invité de choix : Kurt Vile. Ce
dernier a été sollicité pour Let Me Get There, cotonneuse ballade en duo
qui s’effiloche lentement sur plus de sept minutes. Contenant onze
chansons au total, l’album démarre avec Into the Trees, une longue
(neuf minutes) et – ô combien – magnétique mélopée scandée par un orgue
électrique, sur laquelle plane l’ombre vénéneuse de Nico.

“A la base, la chanson était encore plus longue. Elle est née au cours
d’une session vraiment particulière. Nous n’étions que tous les deux,
Colm et moi, et nous avons joué pendant des heures, de nuit : une
expérience unique et très forte”, précise Hope Sandoval, se montrant
fidèle à sa réputation lors d’un entretien plus riche en soupirs et
silences qu’en mots. Propulsé d’emblée vers les cimes avec cette chanson
sublime, l’auditeur est maintenu en altitude élevée tout au long d’un
album de très haute volée, jalonné de plusieurs autres sommets (notamment
Salt of the Sea et I Took a Slip).

Comme nous le dit si bien Colm O Cíosóig, “la musique a cette capacité
de vous emmener ailleurs, dans un autre espace émotionnel, proche de
l’espace du rêve” – un espace à l’intérieur duquel ce nouvel album gravite
superbement et nous envoûte irrésistiblement.
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2016, Nov. 4, MONORAIL MUSIC, article w. Hope & Colm Interv. Quotes
http://www.monorailmusic.com/album/f7d4 ... unter.html
[this article's web page includes one photo]

HOPE SANDOVAL & THE WARM INVENTIONS
Until The Hunter
Tendril Tales
Image
Released: 4th November 2016

CD £10.99 Buy Now In Stock. Dispatched on Monday.
2xLP £16.99 Buy Now In Stock. Dispatched on Monday.

The first album of new material in seven years from Mazzy Star singer Hope Sandoval.
Includes Let Me Get There duet with Kurt Vile. Hope has recently recorded the vocal
for The Spoils with Massive Attack. "It was a total honour to sing along to a
beautifully hypnotic soul groove with heavyweights like Hope, Colm, and all the
other top notch musos. To respond to Hope’s call in song of letting her get there
felt right and real and gave me chills while singing, even though I knew they already
got there years before I walked in the building." Kurt Vile

Play music with another person for nearly two decades and chances are intuition begins
to take hold. “We always tell each other, 'Oh, your telepathy is spot-on'!” Hope
Sandoval (perhaps best known as one-half of Mazzy Star) says of her innate song
writing connection with Colm O’Cíosóig, the singer’s long time musical compatriot
in experimental project Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions. Mutual respect,
understanding, and a passion for each other’s craft fuels an organic creative process
that lies at the heart of the Warm Inventions’ mesmerizing sonic creation.

Questions on whether or not the critically acclaimed band would ever release a follow-up to
2009’s Through The Devil Softly, need not occur. Multi-instrumentalist O’Cíosóig,
a founding member of My Bloody Valentine, is quite matter-of-fact in assessing
the Warm Inventions’ stunning new album, Until The Hunter, due on November 4 on
their new label Tendril Tales (distributed through INgrooves).
“It’s basically a continuation of what we’re doing all the time,” O’Cíosóig says
of the pair’s new album.
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2016, NOV. 16, NEWSTALK 106-108 FM Interview with Hope & Colm (transcript I made from the audio)
The interviewer is radio host Tom Dunne.
http://www.newstalk.com
The audio file is available at the station's website (above) via their "Listen Back" feature.
Or you can download the audio file as an MP3 from a file hosting site where I upped it,
along with the transcript text, here:
http://www.filefactory.com/file/3fh2b2p ... 0H%26C.zip
I've also upped the audio to youtube with a slide show here: https://youtu.be/H4_kmWNc1jM

TOM - Uh, now, I don't know if "supergroup" is kind of just having fun really,
but Colm O' Ciosoig, who, um, is, he sounds Japanese, is famous for his time
spent in My Bloody Valentine, and Hope Sandoval, famous for her time spent in
Mazzy Star are going to be joining us in just a minute. But to get you in the
mood for it let's g
o back to one of the finest pieces of music ever committed
to tape by an Irish band. This is My Bloody Valentine, and "Soon"...

-Uh, we're delighted to welcome Colm O'Coisoig. Did I pronounce that
correctly, Colm?

COLM: That's great, yeah.

-'Cause as an Irish surname it's remarkably close to Japanese

COLM: Yeah (laughs)

-Um, into the studio, Colm is in the studio with us. We're also
joined on the phone by Hope Sandoval who's on a hike, I think,
at the moment. Hope, how are you tonight?

HOPE: It's a, it's a -- I'm sorry, um, hang on a minute.
[Hope's conversation switches to her speaking to people she's
with in California:
Hope:"What is that? It's a little fox?"
Male voice: "Coyote"]
HOPE: It was a coyote. A coyote jumped, jumped over the,
the -- Sorry, we just -- there was a coyote...

COLM: A freak out with a coyote

HOPE:...We're up in the hills right now, and we just saw a coyote

-That's really brilliant Hope, I'll be honest with you now. That's -
I mean that's, that couldn't be better 'cause listeners in Ireland
would never have seen a coyote, and here's a guest almost being
attacked by one (laughs)

HOPE: Uh, no, they don't attack. They're, they're more afraid of us.

-You're not in any danger?

Hope: No, no, no, I'm not.

-(Tom and Colm laugh)

COLM: Yeah, okay, sounds confident

-Good, good, well, um, they're, they're both joining me tonight to discuss,
um, The Warm Intentions, which is -

COLM: No. Inventions, sorry

-Inventions, excuse me, The Warm Inventions, which is (laughs) the name of-

COLM: This gets mixed up a lot

-Uh, uh, coyote attacks, Japanese surnames

COLM: Yeah, yeah, I know

-Uh, it's all going on

COLM: It's easy to do that

HOPE: That's a good name though. That, that, that's, that's a really
good name, "Intentions"

-Uh, it has kind of a Leonard Cohen feel to it, "The Warm Intentions"

HOPE: Yeah. Maybe its better (laughs) than "Warm Inventions" (laughs)

-Right, um, so tell me Colm, I suppose we'll start with you, um,
this, this is the third, um, album that you've done together.
How did it all start?

COLM: Um, we met in London, um, I was, I was living over there, um,
and Hope would spend a lot of time over there as well. So, I just
decided to take my sabbatical from my other band

-My Bloody Valentine

Colm: Yup

-Yup

COLM: And I was just in a kind of wandering phase. And I was at a gig,
and Hope was there with her boyfriend at the time. And somehow we, we
got into conversation. Uh, I guess her boyfriend said that's, well that's,
pointed me out, that's Colm [inaudible]

HOPE: No, I, I, I told my boyfriend, but my boyfriend [William
Reid of The Jesus and Mary Chain] had gone on tour with Colm

-Uh, huh

HOPE: And, um, he knew him, but I had never met Colm. And my
boyfriend said, "Do you know who that man is, that man that just walked
in?" And, of course I didn't know, 'cause I didn't really know what Colm
looked like. And he said, "That's Colm O'Ciosoig, drummer of My
Bloody Valentine." And I said, "I have to meet him, you have to introduce
us before this night is over."

-Wow

HOPE: That's how we met

-Why, why were you so determined to meet Colm, Hope?

HOPE: Because I was a huge, or am, a huge My Bloody Valentine fan,
and I was wanting to just do music with other people, sort of
get away from my other band. And um, he's an amazing drummer,
and I just thought, you know, I asked him if he'd be into the idea
of having a jam session together, and um, and it was a really
good idea

-Right, um, why do you think, 'cause it's on three albums now, and I
think the new one, um, sounds really fantastic, it's great.
What do you think is working so well between the two of you?

HOPE: I don't know. I think maybe because we, maybe because we understand
each other because we both come from bands that are, um, sort of popular,
I guess, and working with people that are, um, I don't know, uh, sort of,
I don't know what word to use without sounding ungrateful. But, um, I
think, I think when we met, at the time when we met, we both, we both
sort of had the same story. And I think I did anyway, I felt a bit, um
disconnected from my old project and I wanted to, um, do other things,
and - Sorry I'm rambling 'cause I'm distracted by something right now

-That's all right

COLM: Another coyote

Hope: (laughs)

-Another coyote attack, moving in?

HOPE: (laughs) No. Anyway-

-Um, yeah, but it's, it's funny though, but the two of you do have
kind of similar stories, don't you-

COLM: Yeah

-that, you know, My Bloody Valentine, um, had been, you know, amazing
and brilliant but was, was just on a hiatus, is, is the word they use to describe
when, you know, no one's really sure what's going on. And Mazzy Star had had
a kind of similar arc of at that point three albums and no real guarantee
there was going to be a fourth album. So, that's a frustrating place to be,
isn't it, 'cause I'm sure for you Colm, you'd have loads of ideas and creativity
and things you want to do, and often not really an outlet for that,

COLM: Yeah, well, uh, uh, yeah, it was - bein', well bein'- when you're in a band,
uh, you get into this universe, you know. It's like a marriage-

-Yeah

COLM: -and you're very, very close together for a very long time, and things
happen, you know, things - We achieved certain success that we hadn't expected.
And then, you know, it was expected more, and our - the times we were living
in we weren't- The success was kind of critical, and not financial, really-

-Ah

Colm: So, we were struggling, you know, financially-

-Yeah

Colm: -to keep things going, and move things along and, you know, get, get
the whole thing going. Um, it took its toll, took a toll on us, I guess-

-Yeah

Colm: -um, and, and, and it's also, at the time- uh, when you're
really young as well, when you're in a band and you are young,
you have, ah, so many, there are so many expectations from the industry,
and you have, you're like, you turn into a product. So, you have to keep on
producing stuff, and you're, you're, you're, you don't get really any time off
really, just to take a break, and just recover from the immense, you know, tidal
wave of emotional things that are happening to you during that period of,say,
getting, playing 2,000 people, and struggling financially, and trying, you know,
balance it all off so well, this is not, doesn't seem to be equating very well

-No, it's a hard world, um, it's, ah, household name but, but not, you know, getting
the life you think would go with that. And Hope, was it a similar kind of story
for you 'cause as Mazzy Star were again hugely critically, um, renowned as well.
But were you finding it, it was a struggle also?

HOPE: A little bit-

-Yeah

HOPE: -um, I mean I think, you know, the honeymoon was over for, for me, and I
think for Colm too. Just a right time thing. [It's hard to hear this last sentence of
Hope's, and I may have heard it wrong, -transcriber]

-Right

COLM: Yeah, it's not just, yeah it's not just financial. There's also just time, and
get a life and-

-I Know

COLM: -and things moving on

-Yeah, um, so on a more positive note (laughs), rather than dwell on that that too long.
Um, this, this is beautiful stuff, this. It seems that the two of you together
just seem to work really, really well together. It's a gorgeous album. Um, there are
innumerable tracks that, that I love that I intend playing. Are you both very,
are you very happy with this Colm?

COLM: Yeah, I, I'm, I like it. I-

HOPE: (laughs)

COLM: -Obviously we, we've released it (laughs). It's, it's passed the, uh, you know,
the board of censors-

-Yep

COLM: -We're happy with it and definitely think it's releasable. So, we're happy.
And each, each song has its own story, and they're, a lot of them are quite
different. But, uh, we like to be able to, you know, encompass all these songs
together in a whole story that works together.

-Yeah. How does that work, uh, Hope, as a matter of interest? Um, and you are kind of
living in different continents. Uh, how do you write songs?

HOPE: Well, we spend a lot of time together. I mean Colm had been living in California
for about-

COLM: Long time

Hope: -seventeen years, um-

COLM: I've only recently moved back over here-

-Okay

COLM: But, you know, may move back again-

HOPE: Yeah

COLM: So, it's in flux

HOPE: Yeah, and then of course I'm back and forth, um, you know, we rehearse
in Ireland, we record in Ireland, but we also work in California, you know

-I can't get over this, some of it was recorded in the Martello towers
here in Ireland

COLM: Yeah, yeah

-That's pretty amazing. And then finished off in Berkeley, California

COLM: No, actually finished in Dublin

-The other way around

COLM: We started in Berkeley, yeah

-Okay. Not many albums have that kind of life cycle

COLM: Yeah, yeah, no, not really. No, I'd say it's quite unique for that particular album

-How do you feel about the album yourself, Hope?

HOPE: I think that I, I really love it. I think it's, I think it's really nice,
yeah. Yeah, I mean, we wouldn't have released it if we didn't totally love it, though
Colm, I think, is a little bit more particular about things. But I think he'll
come to love it-

COLM: (laughs)

Hope: -maybe in a year, or year and a half

COLM: Yeah, I know, it's always hard to-

-I'm judging by his eyes, I think it'll be faster than that, Hope. I think he's-

HOPE: (laughs)

- -just holding back

HOPE: I, I know, I know, I know that, I know that you really like it, as you say Colm.
But a few weeks ago Colm was over here in California. We were listening to the
vinyl and he was loving it. He was going on and on about it

COLM: Oh yeah, that's after a few drinks

HOPE: Yeah

-(laughs) He just doesn't want to show his hand

HOPE: (laughs)

-Um, obviously Kurt Vile, uh, contributes to this. Um, how did, how did
that come about?

COLM: It was actually in Dublin. Um, Hope and I were in a drum shop in Dublin
and the guy there in the basement was playing some music. We're like,
"Ooh, who's this? Sounds great," and he said "Oh, it's Kurt Vile." I'm like,
"Oh, alright." and I'd, I'd met him about a month previous, or a couple of
months previous to that on tour, and he, he, he, he talked to me and said he
was a fan of The Warm Inventions. Um, we became a fan of his music. And then
we had this song that Hope and I wrote. And Hope had originally sung all the,
the lyrics for it. And Hope came up with an idea of why not, you know, make it,
make it into a duet. And Kurt just came to mind as this kind of an obvious
kind of a choice. And when we invited him to come along and sing, we weren't
sure if he'd be into it or not, but he, he took up the offer, and loved it, and
loved the idea. He was passin' through Berkeley, and doing a gig in San
Francisco, and we just, we, we brought him into a studio, uh, Fantasy Studios
in Berkeley just, just before his soundcheck, and he just layed it down, and
we, we got on really well, and he would start ad-libbing stuff, and just, yeah,
added a really nice flavour to it

-Yeah, it really does, works great. Um, Hope, uh, I know in the past you haven't
been mad about live work. Has that changed at all? Would you be, would you be
considering any live performances, or is that too unlikely?

HOPE: Um, yeah, I think we will do a few live shows. I don't like to do live shows
but I think that-

-Yeah, you do (laughs)

HOPE: -it's really important to do the record live, yeah.

-Yeah, well it seems, put the work into it and get an album that great, um
it would be, you know, awfully sad if, if people didn't get a chance to see a
performance.

COLM: Oh, it's the plan

HOPE: Oh yeah, we work with this amazing band, Dirt Blue Gene, amazing musicians,
so yeah, it would be great to show them off again, playing live

-Great, great. Well, we live in hope. Um, Hope, thanks very much for joining us,
and I hope you're not attacked by the coyote again.

HOPE: Alright (laughs)

-Enjoy the rest of your walk

HOPE: Alright, thank you

-Alright, thanks. Thanks very much

HOPE: Okay, okay, bye

-And uh, Colm, thank you as well

COLM: Sure

-I think we'll give people a blast of um, of the Kurt Vile track. This is
"Let Me Get There"
*********************************************************************************************
.............................................................................................
*********************************************************************************************
2016, NOV. 14 BAYERN2 RADIO (German) Hope & Colm Interview

http://www.br.de/radio/bayern2/sendunge ... er100.html
[The Bayern2 site's page at the link above contains the German text of the article/interview and also
has an audio version which was broadcast on Bayern2 Radio. Click on the photo of Hope near the top of the page
to play the audio. I've also uploaded the audio with slide show to youtube here: https://youtu.be/S0cjqvIhmUU . Plus, I've upped the audio file (MP3)+ text to a file hosting site where anyone can download it, here:
https://mega.nz/#!yR9RmQTC!5i7AppMdBEfD ... v9_SvADBw4
[Below is a translation into English from the German text version of the radio site's audio.
Note: Where I was able to hear Hope's and Colm's
actual English words in the audio recording, I included them in the English version below
in round brackets. So, where you see words/sentences contained within round brackets, those are Hope's
and Colm's verbatim English words. For the rest, I had to translate from the German
text into English. In the case of Hope's and Colm's words where I couldn't hear the original English,
I hope my English translations from the German are fairly close approximations of what they said in English]
................................................................................................
Album of the week: Hope Sandoval
The Portishead of the Prairie
No one breathes as beautifully as Hope Sandoval, in the 90s the
frontwoman of Mazzy Star, the blueprint for all dreamy
indie folk singers from America. Now she releases her third solo album.

By: Ralf Summer
Nov. 14, 2016

With a heavy organ she pulls us in: Hope Sandoval
has put her favorite song at the beginning of the new album:
The nine-minute long "Into The Trees." It undulates and meanders,
so one almost believes the woman who since 1990 has been
celebrated for popular, fragile indie folk has drifted completely
towards the herbal and esoteric. Then she uses her enchanting voice -
and everything becomes warm and good.

Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions are two: The
Californian Hope singing, and Colm O'Ciosoig on drums. Colm is Irish,
and played earlier with the shoegaze pioneers My Bloody Valentine
and also produced both previous Warm Inventions albums.
After My Bloody Valentine's comeback tour, the two wrote songs together.
Hope and Colm can take a mobile studio anywhere.

[This paragraph is all Hope quotes. Words in round brackets are her
verbatim English words]:
HOPE: "The first piece is 'Into The Trees'.
(We wrote that song - I actually bought this organ from Germany, a Philichordia.
And, uh, it had just arrived and we were staying in one of the towers,
Martello towers, in Ireland. The towers are really beautiful there, and the
walls are eight feet thick. So, nobody can hear anything, and you can play as
loud as you want. And it was the first time I was playing the organ.
And it was just the two of us, Colm and myself in the tower).
Colm was on the drums. We jammed all night with the great new
drone-sound of the organ. Then we thought: Now we still need a lyric.
So a line just occurred to me and I sang it over and over in the
middle of the song (saying 'Oh, they miss you'. That take is the take
from that night. I think it's my favorite song off the record)."
-Hope Sandoval

Indie-Supergroup Mazzy Star:
The second piece, "The Peasant" recalls the longing
guitar of "Fade Into You", the hit of their former band Mazzy
Star whuch has been gladly used in films - such as in the acclaimed
road movie "American Honey".

With Dave Roback and Kendra Smith coming
before via the psychedelic bands Dream Syndicate, Rain Parade and Opal,
Mazzy Star was a kind of L.A.-Indie-Supergroup. They were
Immediately celebrated - this was, in no small part, due to the
charisma of their singer: Since Hope Sandoval appeared in 1990,
she has created more stir as the shy musician from a
Mexican-American family with nine siblings.

It is lovely. When she was with William Reid of The Jesus & Mary
Chain, the image of the "indie-postergirl" was perfect.
Massive Attack have already booked her twice as a guest singer.
Hope Sandoval is now something like "the official voice of
American Indie Folk."

When I speak with Hope Sandoval, who sits in Berkeley, California on
the phone, I ask her the meaning of the mysterious title of
her first solo album. She answers that the title "Bavarian
Fruit Bread" was a secret message between two people.
Then she's silent. But the origin of the title of the new Warm
Inventions album she does not make a secret of: "Until The Hunter"
is a shortening an African proverb: "Until the lion has a
historian, the hunter will always be a hero." There are always
stories told of the winners, but according to Hope: "We rarely
hear the point of view of the losers."

Duet with Kurt Vile:
The single of the record is the grooving "Let Me Get There".
Hope sings the love song in a duet with Kurt Vile, the
U.S. East Coast songwriter. He is a fan of the Warm Inventions
And their laid-back psychedelic sound, which "rolls so beautifully".
Many of the eleven moving songs originated in California -
after long walks by Hope & Colm.

COLM: "The two of us like to walk in California every afternoon.
(Well, we do hike, and then we have food). Afterwards,
we do our business calls on the phone."
-Colm O' Ciosoig

HOPE: "Sometimes we only do our phone calls till (maybe lunchtime.
Then we go have a nice lunch, and have wine, and then
go back home, and then have some more wine. And then
we play music "
COLM: "A perfect day"
HOPE: [laughs] "Perfect day")

Hope Sandoval - an institution
Her first band Mazzy Star has been called the "Portishead of the prairie".
Maybe Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions are now
The "Massive Attack of the Indie-Folk". An institution with their own label,
their own rules and their own sense of timing.
............................................................................
[Original German text from the Bayern2 radio site's text
version of the radio audio recording]
http://www.br.de/radio/bayern2/sendunge ... er100.html

Album der Woche: Hope Sandoval
Die Portishead der Prärie
Keiner haucht so schön wie sie: Hope Sandoval, in den 90ern die
Frontfrau von Mazzy Star, ist die Blaupause für alle dreamy
Indie-Folk-Sängerinnen aus Amerika. Nun legt sie ihr drittes Soloalbum vor.

Von: Ralf Summer
Stand: 14.11.2016 |Bildnachweis

Mit einer schweren Orgel zieht sie uns hinein: Hope Sandoval
hat ihr Lieblingslied an den Anfang des neuen Albums gestellt:
das neunminütige “Into The Trees”. Es wabert und mäandert, man
glaubt fast, dass die Frau, die seit 1990 den heute weit
verbreiteten, zerbrechlichen Indie-Folk zelebriert, komplett
Richtung Kraut und Esoterik abgedriftet ist. Dann setzt ihre
zauberhafte Stimme ein – und alles wird warm und gut.

Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions sind zu zweit: Die
Kalifornierin
Hope, Gesang, und Colm O´Ciosoig, Schlagzeug. Colm ist Ire,
spielte früher bei den Shoegaze-Pionieren von My Bloody Valentine
und produzierte auch schon die beiden Vorgängeralben der Warm
Inventions. Nach der My Bloody Valentine-Comeback-Tour schrieben
sie zu zweit an Songs. Hope und Colm können mit einem mobilen
Studio überall aufnehmen.

"Das erste Stück, 'Into The Trees', ist in diesen Martello
Towers in Irland entstanden. Ich hatte gerade in Deutschland
eine gebrauchte Orgel, eine Philichordia, ersteigert. Es war
der erste Tag mit dem neuen Instrument für mich. Die Mauern der
Türme sind acht Fuß dick, wir konnten so laut spielen, wie wir
wollten. Colm saß am Schlagzeug. Wir jammten die ganze Nacht mit
dem tollen neuen Drone-Sound der Orgel. Danach dachten wir: Jetzt
noch einen Text dazu. So singen wir in der Mitte des Liedes immer
wieder: 'Oh, they miss you'. Was uns gerade einfiel. Es ist mein
Lieblingslied der Platte."
Hope Sandoval

Indie-Supergroup Mazzy Star
Das zweite Stück, „The Peasant“ erinnert mit der sehnsüchtigen
Gitarre an „Fade Into You“, den Hit ihrer früheren Band Mazzy
Star. Gern in Filmen benutzt – wie gerade auch im hochgelobten
Roadmovie “American Honey”. Mit Dave Roback und Kendra Smith
von den Psychedelic-Bands Dream Syndicate, Rain Parade und Opal
waren Mazzy Star eine Art L.A.-Indie-Supergroup. Sie wurden
sofort gefeiert - das lag auch an der Ausstrahlung ihrer Sängerin:
Seit Hope Sandoval 1990 auftauchte, hat sie mehr Wirbel verursacht,
als der schüchternen Musikerin aus einer
mexikanisch-amerikanisch-stämmigen Familie mit neun Geschwistern

lieb ist. Als sie dann mit William Reid von The Jesus & Mary
Chain zusammenkam, war das Bild vom “Indie-Postergirl” perfekt.
Massive Attack haben sie schon zweimal als Gastsängerin gebucht.
Hope Sandoval ist nun so etwas wie “die offizielle Stimme des
amerikanischen Indie-Folks”.

Als ich Hope Sandoval, die in Berkeley/Kalifornien am Telefon
sitzt, frage, was es mit dem mysteriösen bayerischen Plattentitel
ihrer ersten Soloplatte auf sich hatte, antwortet sie: „Bavarian
Fruit Bread“ war eine Geheimbotschaft zwischen zwei Menschen.
Dann schweigt sie. Aus dem Titel der neuen Warm Inventions-Platte
macht sie dagegen kein Geheimnis: “Until The Hunter” “ ist die
Verkürzung der afrikanischen Redewendung “until the lion has a
historian, the hunter will always be a hero”. Es sind immer die
Geschichten der Gewinner, die erzählt werden, so Hope: “Wir hören
selten die Sicht der Verlierer.”

Duett mit Kurt Vile
Die Single der Platte ist das groovende „Let Me Get There“. Hope
hat das Liebeslied im Duett mit Kurt Vile eingesungen, dem
Songwriter von der US-Ostküste. Er ist Fan der Warm Inventions
und ihres zurückgelehnten Psychedelic-Sounds, der „so schön rollt“.
Viele der elf gleitenden Stücke sind in Kalifornien entstanden –
nach ausgiebigen Spaziergängen von Hope & Colm.

"Wir zwei gehen gern spazieren in Kalifornien. Eigentlich jeden
Nachmittag. Erst sind wir draußen, dann essen wir etwas, danach
erledigen wir unsere Business-Calls."
Colm O´Ciosoig
"Manchmal machen wir aber erst unsere Anrufe, entscheiden uns
dann für ein gutes Essen außer Haus – trinken einen Wein dazu –
kommen wieder nach Hause zurück und trinken nochmal Wein. Und
machen dann Musik. Das ist ein perfekter Tag."
Hope Sandoval
Hope Sandoval - eine Institution
Ihre erste Band Mazzy Star wurde mal die „Portishead der Prärie“
genannt. Vielleicht sind Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions nun
die „Massive Attack des Indie-Folk“. Eine Institution, die ihr
eigenes Label, ihre eigenen Regeln und ihr eigenes Gefühl für
Timing hat.
.................................................................................................
Verbatim English words from Hope & Colm audible on the Bayern 2 Radio audio:

HOPE: [Re. Into the Trees] We wrote that song - I actually bought this organ from Germany,
a Philichordia. And, uh, it had just arrived and we were staying in one of the towers,
Martello towers, in Ireland. The towers are really beautiful there, and the
walls are eight feet thick. Nobody can hear anything, and you can play as
loud as you want. And it was the first time that I was playing the organ.
And it was just the two of us, Colm and myself in the tower
...And saying "Oh, they miss you." That take is, is the take from
that night. I think it's my favorite song off, off the record...

COLM: Well, we do hike, and then we have food

HOPE: ...maybe lunchtime. Then we go have a nice lunch, and have wine, and then
go back home, and then have some more wine. And then we play music
COLM: A perfect day
HOPE: (laughs) Perfect day
****************************************************************************************************
....................................................................................................
****************************************************************************************************
2016, Nov. 23, HERO MAG. Interview w. Hope & Colm
http://hero-magazine.com/article/78825/ ... o-ciosoig/
[this article's web page includes three photos and two embedded yt videos:
-Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions - Let Me Get There ft. Kurt Vile:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIpYJOi ... e=youtu.be
-Hope Sandoval And The Warm Inventions - Liquid Lady
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Em2dH8b ... e=youtu.be ]
Image
[this photo is a cut-off version, as the original full size photo was too big for this site to reproduce
without cutting off sections of the photo. I'd re-do it by resizing and re-embedding it, but I kind of like the unintentionally-cropped version 'cause it gives a nice, large size close-up of Hope's face. Plus the full size photo is findable in this same thread in another article. So, I'll leave it cut off!]

VINTAGE CARS + PRICKLY PLANTS
A conversation between Hope Sandoval and My Bloody Valentine’s Colm Ó Cíosóig
INTRO ALEX JAMES TAYLOR 23RD NOVEMBER 2016
Interviews

A conversation between Hope Sandoval and My Bloody Valentine’s Colm Ó Cíosóig

When Hope Sandoval first announced herself to the world in 1990 via Mazzy Star’s debut
album She Hangs Brightly – a collaboration between herself and guitarist David Roback
– we were left seduced by her delicately spectral tones.

Following two further acclaimed Mazzy Star records, in 2001 Sandoval began a new project
with My Bloody Valentine’s drummer Colm Ó Cíosóig, under the name the Warm Inventions.
The pair proved a tight fit and lived up to their moniker by realising a sound shaped
around their shared passion for rich and expansive soundscapes. This month the duo
return with their third album, Until the Hunter, and they pick up where they previously
left off, weaving textures to create melancholy cohesion.

Here, Sandoval and Ó Cíosóig go head to head, asking each other life’s important
questions, such as; “If you were to be a plant which one would you be and why?”
..............................................................................
Hope Sandoval: Was there a particular gig/song/album that first switched you on to music
and put you in the right direction?
Colm Ó Cíosóig: Punk rock arrived when I was thirteen … so I had a whole explosive
movement to chase after!

COC: You worked with Massive Attack on two of their last records, what is that process
like for you?
HS: The process can be a very seclusive experience which I enjoy. I write and record
all of the lyrics and vocal melodies in my own studio. The music is quite different
from what I am used to working with, so it’s a really nice refreshing change.

HS: Who else would you really love to collaborate with?
COC: Playing some wild electric jams with Miles Davis would be a great moment in a
parallel universe.
Image

COC: The first time you heard one of my records, what did you think?
HS: The first time I heard My Bloody Valentine was when Jeff Travis* sent me Loveless
and it blew my mind. My favourite song off the record was Touched and I didn’t know
that you had written it. When I realised, I knew you were the perfect person to work with.

HS: What was a favourite car that you owned and what car do you fantasise about owning?
COC: My old 1972 Mercedes 280 Sedan that was totalled by some texting fool. My
fantasy car is an amphibious camper van.

COC: If you had to choose colours to describe your mood on stage what would they be?
HS: I would say red for intensity and blue for romance and sadness.

HS: What is your preferred dish to cook and why?
COC: Throwing some pre-made lentil and potato burritos on an open campfire under the
stars… really it’s all about set and setting!

COC: If you were to be a plant which one would you be and why?
HS: A cactus, all prickly on the outside and all soft and dissolvable on the inside.

HS: If you could be any animal, what animal would you be and why?
COC: A Puffin… I hear there’s a new Puffin colony moving to California.

COC: If you had to do a cameo on a TV show, which one would it be?
HS: American Horror Story: It’s beautifully done and Jessica Lange was amazing in it.
After filming we could go out and have a glass of wine and exchange stories.
Image
[Photo: Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions, live in San Francisco]

-Hope Sandoval and the Warm Intentions‘ Until the Hunter is out now via Tendril Tales.

[*via googling, I found out Hope's likely referring here to the founder of Rough Trade Records, Geoff Travis. In 1991 when "Loveless" came out on the Creation label, Mazzy Star was on the Rough Trade label.
- Hermesacat/Bob B.]
*********************************************************************************************************
.........................................................................................................
*********************************************************************************************************
2016, Nov. 25, UNCUT Mag Album Review, with Q & A w. HS&TWI
[the article's web page contains one photo]

http://www.uncut.co.uk/reviews/album/ho ... ons-hunter
– Until The Hunter
Graeme Thomson November 25, 2016

Hypnotic third from Mazzy Star and MBV alumni
Image

Overall rating: SCORE 8

Hope Sandoval And The Warm Inventions – Until The Hunter

To a large extent, you know what you’re going to get with any album featuring the voice of Hope
Sandoval, the Californian singer and songwriter best known for her work with Mazzy Star.

Sandoval’s blurred narcotic swoon, deadpan yet strangely emotive, dominates everything she touches
without seeming even to try. One long sighing fall, it’s not a voice designed to get the party
started; rather, it slips exquisitely through the shadows of some eternal comedown. Over the
past three decades Sandoval has wrapped it around a variety of musical styles – Gothic-country,
sad-core, hazy dream-pop, tripped-out soul and slo-mo psychedelia, as well as on records by
Massive Attack, Jesus & Mary Chain and Bert Jansch – but it has always gravitated naturally
towards an unhurried sadness.

That hasn’t changed on Until The Hunter, her third album with the Warm Inventions, the project
she formed at the turn of the millennium with My Bloody Valentine drummer Colm Ó Cíosóig. It is,
however, a more fully formed record than their last outing, 2009’s Through The Devil Softly.
Since then, Sandoval has rebooted Mazzy Star after a lengthy hiatus, releasing their fourth album,
Seasons Of Your Day, in 2013. Perhaps as a result, there is frequently far less daylight between
Until The Hunter and the sound of her other band than was evident on the first two Warm Inventions
records.

“The Peasant” is so archetypical, it could plausibly have appeared on anything Sandoval has ever
recorded. Keening pedal steel guitar swoops over the patter of woozy, waltz-time drums, twinkling
vibraphone, minor key melancholy and words dragged from the very heart of loneliness. Likewise,
“Treasure” recalls the heady peak of 1993’s So Tonight That I Might See, back when Mazzy Star
were – briefly, implausibly – a million-selling proposition. With its echoes of Tim Buckley’s
“Once I Was” reimagined by Galaxie 500, “Treasure” is both utterly wasted and desolately
beautiful, and ends with a glorious slow fade, like a seaside sunset.

“Day Disguise” creeps up like an ambiguous nursery rhyme, sweet, fragile and fragrant. Mostly
just voice and gently picked electric guitar, it evokes long shadows thrown out by the California
sun: ‘And what would she wear?/Would her colours be fair?’ sighs Sandoval. ‘Or would she be like
me, dark in her day disguise?’ “The Hiking Song” is spectral desert folk, the stately
finger-picked acoustic guitar line reminiscent of the tone on Sun Kil Moon’s Admiral Fell
Promises. A spare violin breaks through the carefully constructed mood, followed by a
bewitching soprano vocal.

At times like this – and there are plenty of them – Until The Hunter does not deviate from
expectations. At other moments, Sandoval and Ó Cíosóig are a little more adventurous.
“Let Me Get There” is a bubbling two-hander featuring Kurt Vile, all flickering soul licks,
steamy organ and sassy vocal trade-offs. Imagine a more laid back sequel to “Sometimes Always”,
the bad-love blues Sandoval sang in 1994 with then-boyfriend William Reid on JAMC’s Stoned &
Dethroned. Its laconic two-chord groove casts a hypnotic spell. At a leisurely seven and a
half minutes, it doesn’t outstay its welcome. Aside from “Isn’t It True” – a skipping
confection of free-drumming and rattling acoustic guitar (think the Velvets’ “Black Angel’s
Death Song” meeting Van’s “The Way Young Lovers Do”) – it’s the only song on Until The Hunter
which could be said to have a spring in its step.

“Into The Trees” falls at the opposite end of the spectrum. A full-blooded foray into sludgy
psychedelic rock, it’s a wandering ghost ship of a thing. A Doorsy swirl of sickly organ melts
into a back-wash of atmospheric keyboard effects, spreading like lava over nine minutes.
Sandoval alternately whispers and keens, “I miss you/When will you come back to us?”, like the
unfathomable heroine from some ’70s Euro horror flick.

Elsewhere, there are strange half-spoken sea shanties (“A Wonderful Seed”), folky rumbles with
flamenco handclaps (“I Took A Slip”) and slightly overwrought psych-soul with a blue trim
(“Liquid Lady”). As ever, it all coalesces around that voice, and its still-potent conjuring
of beauty and darkness. Timeless music, for heavy times.
.......................................................................
Q&A [UNCUT MAG.]
HOPE SANDOVAL AND COLM Ó CÍOSÓIG

-How did the record evolve?

We started in Berkeley then travelled to Dublin and set up in a Martello tower along the coast.
Its eight-foot thick walls sound-proofed and isolated us from unnecessary distractions.
The main chamber of the tower is a large circular dome shaped room, perfect for live tracking
as it has a controlled reverb decay that gives the music a comfortable breathing space.
We experimented and wrote a lot of material during the winter of 2015/16, laying down the
backbones of the album.

-Was there a particular mood you were chasing?

We lean towards what people may call psychedelic. It’s for us a natural place. We invited a
number of musicians to contribute that we knew would add further dimensions and beauty to the
tracks. Our suggestions were subtle, really, an unsaid knowing of the unknown. Telepathy is a
key factor.

-How did Kurt Vile get involved?

The first time we heard Kurt was in a music shop in Dublin and we were completely blown away.
We asked if he would be in to recording a track with us. It just so happened that he was passing
through the Bay Area on tour with his band. We spent the afternoon in Fantasy Studios laying down
the vocals just before his soundcheck, he brought a lot of good new energy to the music. We all
went to the Fillmore that night, we had a great time and his show was amazing!
INTERVIEW: GRAEME THOMSON
*******************************************************************************************************
.......................................................................................................
*******************************************************************************************************
2016, Nov. 28, IRISH TIMES interv. w. Hope & Colm

http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/warm- ... -1.2880474
[this article's web page includes one photo]

Warm Inventions find magic in Martello towers for new album
Hope Sandoval and Colm Ó Cíosóig recorded ‘Until the Hunter’ in Sutton and Dalkey forts

Image

Éamon Sweeney
Nov. 28, 2016

Even though Martello towers are more readily associated with James Joyce, Irish-American
duo Hope Sandoval and the Warm Inventions made a little bit of history last winter by
recording their third album, Until the Hunter, in two of Dublin’s seaside forts in
Sutton and Dalkey.

The Warm Inventions are a musical partnership that shouldn’t make so much sense. American
singer Hope Sandoval of Mazzy Star made indie kids swoon with the dreamy, mellow hit Fade
into You back in the mists of 1993, while her multi-instrumentalist co-writer, Colm Ó
Cíosóig, is best known for banging the drums for Anglo-Irish live noise terrorists
My Bloody Valentine.

Sandoval has a reputation for being reclusive, which arguably applies to any musician who
doesn’t post daily selfies to Instagram. However, when Ó Cíosóig connects her via Skype
to his laptop in a Dublin hotel, she is talkative and friendly.

“Martello towers are great places to work in,” Sandoval says. “We’re really lucky because
we have a portable studio, which enables us to work wherever we like. There is some extra
work involved in setting everything up, but you can find a lot of magic and inspiration
in being free to go somewhere completely different.”

After initial recording sessions in Berkeley, California, Ó Cíosóig searched for places
to stay on Airbnb and discovered the Sutton and Dalkey towers were available to rent.
“There is an underlining history of these towers being places to escape from the norm,”
he says. “It was great not to be in a regular square building. Also, the reverb dies
naturally because of the circular dimensions.”

Heating bill:
The unique atmosphere of these stone spaces can be heard on the album’s haunting opening
track, Into the Trees. “I just got an organ shipped over from Germany,” Sandoval says.
“The first time I ever played it was in the Dalkey tower. We had a really crazy jam
session very late at night. The organ sounded amazing in that room. Colm was going from
really wild drums to really slow, hypnotic percussion.”

What Ó Cíosóig didn’t foresee was the high cost of keeping the Inventions warm. “I didn’t
realise heating wasn’t included in the Dalkey tower bill, so I had to pay that separately.
A Martello tower gets extremely cold if you don’t keep the heating on, as they’re
essentially gigantic granite fridges.”

The experience encouraged Ó Cíosóig to consider other unusual settings. “You can do a
course in California to learn how to build a dome. They’re essentially round-earth
emergency shelters you can construct for about five grand. They’re very cheap structures
and very, very solid, so they’re great for earthquakes and hot and cold climates, as
they’re of Iranian origin. I might well experiment with them in the future.”

American singer-songwriter and former member of the War on Drugs Kurt Vile duets with
Sandoval on the album’s first single Let Me Get There. “Initially, I sung all of it,”
says Sandoval. “After a while, we thought it would be nice to do it as a duet. Kurt was
playing a show at the Fillmore in San Francisco, so he just stopped by before his sound
check and we did it in a couple of hours.”

An even more unusual guest is a street musician called Michael Masley. “We just stumbled
upon him in Berkeley,” Ó Cíosóig says. “He was sitting there for hours playing this very
hypnotic music through these little battery powered speakers, which sounded like it was
beamed from outer space. Years ago, he invented these sound hammers to put on his fingers
that look like something out of Edward Scissorhands.”

Collective:
Other contributors to the Warm Inventions over the years include Dirt Blue Gene, who Ó
Cíosóig calls “a low-key Irish band who don’t play much”, and own a studio in Blessington
where Sandoval and Ó Cíosóig partly recorded their second album Through the Devil Softly.
“We always like to play with different people,” he says. “We’re really much more of a
collective rather than a band. This approach opens up a lot of different paths, so we
don’t have to go any particular set way and we give ourselves plenty of opportunities
to explore lots of territory.”

Their debut album, Bavarian Fruit Bread, came out in the wake of 9/11 and was subsequently
appraised as a tonic for the times. Until the Hunter also appears during a period of
tumultuous political and social upheaval in the United States. “Music soothes you,
especially when you write, sing or play an instrument,” Sandoval says. “It really can
be a cure for everything.”

“In a strange way, the death of Leonard Cohen distracted us from all this Trump business,”
Ó Cíosóig says. “Music is incredibly powerful. It alleviates pain and takes listener
away from their own problems or, indeed, the woes of the world. It offers a form of
non-thinking, which can play a crucial role at times of stress.”

While Ó Cíosóig says there will be My Bloody Valentine activity in the future, the
primary short-term focus is arranging a Warm Inventions tour in late spring and early
summer. “We’ll both go back to our own things in due time, but for the moment it is
this,” he says. “I jump backwards and forwards and sometimes there’s a few months
when nothing is happening. It can get complicated juggling things.”

In the mid-1980s, a fledgling My Bloody Valentine emigrated after Gavin Friday of
the Virgin Prunes gave them some addresses and contacts in Holland and Germany.
“We only had one fan in Dublin who used to come to every gig, it wasn’t going to
work staying here” Ó Cíosóig says laughing.

It has now come full circle as, rather than fleeing his native city, Ó Cíosóig is
back living here and making music in its iconic Martello towers. “Yeah, it’s strange,”
he smiles. “I suppose I’m not running away any more.”

Until the Hunter is out now
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-2016, Dec., BLITZ MAGAZINE (Portugal), interv. w. Hope from the December issue of BLITZ
This is my attempted English translation from the original Portuguese text. The Portuguese version follows below.Posted earlier in this thread is the 2016, Nov. 4, BLITZ mag. INTERVIEW w. HOPE teaser preview Hope quote (one paragraph's worth) BLITZ put on line taken from this longer interview that appeared later in BLITZ mag's Dec. issue. The early quote was left out of the full interview later published in the magazine and reproduced below.
........................................................................................
[The intro. below was written by journalist/interviewer Lia Pereira]

Until The Hunter, Tendril Tales / Popstock,
Throughout the interview, an adjective difficult to translate is used frequently:
"Haunting", for something enchanted or haunted, a word perfect for
describing the atmosphere of songs such as "Into The Trees", "Let Me Get There" or
"Day Disguise". Magical would be another wise choice of words.

HOPE SANDOVAL, GOOD SPELL (GOOD MAGIC)

Of a shy media presence and a smoky voice idolized by fans of Mazzy Star,
Hope Sandoval has just released an album with her other project, The Warm Inventions.
On the phone from San Francisco, the singer told us about the new songs, and
modern times in which, with difficulty, one fits.

- [BLITZ]: Your new album is called "Until The Hunter": How did this title come about?
And what does it mean?

HOPE: It comes from an old African saying, to which we gave a little twirl. The proverb
says: "Until the lion has his historian, the hunter will always be the
hero". We turned the saying the other way around, making it a little more mysterious.
It has to do with the fact that history is always written by the winners.

-The album opens with a song "Into The Trees" of almost nine minutes. Is it true it
came out of a jam session?

HOPE: I really like that song. I think it's my favorite. But I have a notion I find strange -
that some of the guys in the band thought it was a weird opening song.
Basically, I and Colm (O Ciosoig, her partner in the band) got together
in Berkeley where we met a street musician named Michael Masley. He's a very cool guy
who reinvents his instruments, recreating them to make some very haunting sounds.
When we returned to San Francisco, we invited him to
lend the song some of his beautiful sounds. This song stands out because we are
only the three of us on it: I, Colm, and Michael.

-Let Me Get There" is sung with Kurt Vile of whom you are a big fan.
How did you fall in love with his music?

HOPE: We were in Dublin at a drum store we go to
because Colm needed to buy some drum sticks. And the music playing
in the store was his (the album "Smoke Ring For My Halo.") I had never heard him before,
and found it so beautiful that I wouldn't stop telling Colm: "We have to find out who
is singing, this is incredible! All the songs are good!" So he
went to see the guy from the shop who was a big fan of Kurt Vile. And Colm said
"Ah, I already met him, two weeks ago at a festival!" Colm's band,
My Bloody Valentine, had played at this festival.

-You recorded this album in a cylindrical tower in Dublin. The acoustics should be
interesting, but wasn't it a sinister place?

HOPE: The tower walls were eight feet thick. Really,
If something happened to us, no one would hear anything. (Laughs) It could be
a little creepy, in fact, but overall it was beautiful and inspiring. And a little haunted,
in a good way.

-Four years ago you played with Mazzy Star at the Alive Festival in Portugal.
Given the nature of your music and your feelings about being on stage, is
it more difficult to play in that noisier kind of scene?

HOPE: Yes, we are often tempted to try to play out of the festival:
in a theater, in a church, or in a smaller tent. But all
concerts can be stressful and intimidating.

-You've worked with Colm in the Warm Inventions for 15 years. What still surprises
you with him?

HOPE: I never know what Colm will invent. It's always something inspired and
strange, as it comes from someone not tainted by having
classic training. And very free music, very unusual. He has a style
and sound I cannot hear from anyone else. I'm always: "Wow, what are you
playing? How cool!" And that soon gives me ideas.

-Geoff Travis, from Rough Trade, says you are in love with music.
What have you heard?

HOPE: Erykah Badu and recently, in a shop in downtown Berkeley,
I heard a woman named Kali Uchis. Some of her songs are
like oldies, like old soul music. I think she has a pretty good voice.

-Do people usually tell you what is an inspiration for them?

HOPE: Sometimes. I don't socialize very much...

-Is it true you have no computer?

HOPE: (laughs) Yeah, that's right. But I have a smartphone. I don't live
In the Dark Ages. Just a little bit.

-Is the exposure of musicians on social networks killing the mystery?

HOPE: It's a young person's thing. For us, it's complicated to figure out,
but for them it's normal. And they like it. My band and Colm's came out
of the late 1980s. At that time, it was not even advisable
to take pictures on stage because it interrupted the music.
Now, people don't even see the concerts. They're always looking
at their phones. But at our concerts, no. Not our
concerts. Our fans should be afraid they might get
kicked out of the venue, or slapped on hand (laughs).

-(Lia Pereira)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
THE SHADOW MAN:
In The Warm Inventions, Hope Sandoval is accompanied by Colm Ó Cíosóig,
an Irish musician best known for being a drummer and one of the
founders of My Bloody Valentine. They both started to work
together in 2001 on the singer's first solo album, and confess they
feel freer in this project than in their mother bands.
"He can say that he doesn't know how to play some instruments
because he never picked them up before. But if he does take them up, I guarantee
that he will soon get out of them something spectacular", so praises Hope.
Image
The caption on the photo above translates as: "I have no computer, but I have a smartphone. I don't live in the dark ages."
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
[BLITZ mag. Interview w. Hope Sandoval, publ. in the Dec. 2016 issue,
original Portuguese text]

Until The Hunter, Tendril Tales/Popstock
Ao longo da entrevista, um adjetivo de dificil traducao e usado com frequencia
e propriedade. "Haunting", algo como enfeiticante ou assombrado, e perfeito para
descrever o ambiente de cancoes como "Into The Trees", "Let Me Get There" ou
"Day Disguise". Magico seria outra opcao acertada

HOPE SANDOVAL FEITICO BOM

De Presenca mediatica arisca e voz fumarenta idolatrada pelos fas dos Mazzy Star,
Hope Sandoval acaba de lancar um disco com o seu outro projeto, The Warm Inventions.
Ao telefone de Sao Francisco, a cantora falou-nos das novas cancoes e destes
tempos modernos nos quais, a custo, se enquadra.

-[BLITZ]: O seu novo album chama-se Until The Hunter: Como surgiu esse titulo
e que significado tem?

HOPE: Vem de um velho ditado africana, ao quai demos uma voltinha. O proverbio
diz: enquanto o leano nao tiver os seus historiadores, o cacador sera sempre o
heroi. Nos viramos o ditado mais misterioso. Tem a ver com o facto de a historia
ser sempre escrita pelos vencedores.

-O disco abre com uma cancao, "Into The Trees", com quase nove minutos. E verdade
que nasceu de uma jam seesion?

HOPE: Gosto muito dessa cancao, julgo que e a minha favorita. Mas tenho nocao
que e estranha - alguns dos rapazes de banda acharam que era uma abertura
esquisita. Basicamente, eu e o Colm (Ó Cíosóig, seu parceiro na banda) juntamo-nos
em Berkeley, onde conhecemos um musico de rua, de nome Michael Masley. E um tipo
muito fixe. que reinventa os seus instrumentos, recriando-os para fazer uns sons
muito enfeiticantes. Quando voltamos para Sao Francisco, convidamo-lo para
emprestar a cancao alguns dos seus belos sons. Essa cancao destaca-se por sermos
so nos os tres: eu o Colm e o Michael.

-Em "Let Me Get There", canta com Kurt Vile, de quem e grande fa. Como se
apaixonou pela musica dele?

HOPE: Estavamos em Dublin, numa loja de baterias a qual costumamos ir,
porque o Colm precisava de comprar umas baquetas. E estava a dar a musica
dele (o album "Smoke Ring For My Halo). Eu, que nunca a tinha ouvido,
achei-a tao bela que nao parava de dizer ao Colm: temos e descobrir quem
e que esta a cantar, isto e incrivel! Todas as cancoes sao boas! Entao, ele
foi ter com o rapaz da loja, que era um grande fa do Kurt Vile. E o Colm:
ah, entao eu ja o conheci, ha duas semanas, num festival! A banda do Colm,
os My Bloody Valentine, tinha tocado nesse festival.

-Gravaram este disco numa torre cilindrica em Dublin. A acustica devia ser
interessante, mas nao era um local sinistro?

HOPE: As paredes de torre tinham dois metros e meio de espessura. Realmente,
se nos acontecesse alguma coisa, ninguem ia ouvir nada. (risos) Podia ser
um pouco sinistra, de facto, mas no geral era bonita e inspiradora.
E um pouco assombrada, no bom sentido.

-Ha quatro anos atuou com os Mazzy Star no festival Alive, em Portugal.
Dada a natureza da sua musica e a sua postura em placo, e-lhe custoso
tocar nesse tipo de cenario mais ruldoso?

HOPE: Sim, muitas vezes ate nos tentam por a tocar fora do festival:
num teatro, numa igreja ou numa tenda mais pequena. Mas todos os
concertos podem se stressantes e intimidantes.

-Trabalha com o Colm nos Warm Inventions ha 15 anos. O que e que ainda
a surpreende nele?

HOPE: Nunca sei o que o Colm vai inventar. E sempre algo inspirado,
estranho, como se viesse de alguem que nao esta contaminado por ter
formacao classica. E musica muito livre, muito invulgar. Tem um estil
e um som que nao ouco em mais ninguem. Fico sempre: uau, o que estas
a tocar? Que fixe! E isso da-me logo ideias.

-Geoff Travis, da Rough Trade, diz que e uma apaixonada por musica.
O que tem ouvido?

HOPE: Erykah Badu e recentemente, numa loja na baixa de Berkeley,
ouvi uma mulher chamada Kali Uchis. Algumas das suas cancoes sao
como oldies, como musica soul antiga. Acho que tem uma voz bastante boa.

-As pessoas costumam dizer-lhe que e uma inspiracao para elas?

HOPE: As vezes. Nao socializo muito...

-E verdade que nao tem computador?

HOPE: (risos) Sim, e verdade. Mas tenho um smartphone. Nao vivo
na Idade das Trevas. So um bocadinho.

-A exposicao dos musicos nas redes sociais esta a matar a misterio?

HOPE: E uma coisa dos jovens. Para nos, e complicado perceber,
mas para eles e normal. E gostam. A minha banda e a do Colm vem
do final dos anos 80; nessa altura, nem sequer era recomendavel
tiarem-nos fotografias em palco, porque interrompia a musica.
Agora, as pessoas nem veem os concertos, estao sempre a olhar
para os telefones. Mas nos nossos concertos nao. Os nossos
concertos nao. Os nossas fas devem ter medo que os
expulsemos da sala ou que lhes demos uma palmada na mao (risos).

-(Lia Pereira)
..................................
O HOMEM SOMBRA:
Nos Warm Inventions, Hope Sandoval e acompanhada por Colm Ó Cíosóig,
musico irlandes mais conhecido por ser ser baterista e um dos
fundadores dos My Bloody Valentine. Os dois comenunca pcaram a trabalhar
juntos em 2001, no primeiro disco a solo da cantora, e confession
sentir-se mais livres neste projeto do que nas suas bandas-mae.
"Ele pode dizer que nao sabe tocar alguns instrumentos, mas e
porque nunca pegou neles. Se pegar, garanto que lhe sai logo uma
coisa espetacular," elogia Hope.
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2016-12-16 ROLLING STONE INTERVIEW w. Hope & Colm
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/featu ... lp-w454088
[the original web page has 3 photos, plus an embedded yt video,
"Let Me Get There" https://youtu.be/pyRJYnAndT0. It also has a link to a 2013 Mazzy Star interview]

Inside Hope Sandoval and the Warm Inventions' Mysterious Chemistry
Mazzy Star singer, My Bloody Valentine's Colm Ó Cíosóig discuss recording in
cannon towers and the deep bond that led to their new third LP

Image
Mazzy Star's Hope Sandoval and bandmate Colm Ó Cíosóig discuss their 15-year
collaboration and the making of new LP 'Until the Hunter.' [photo by}:Luz Gallardo

By Suzy Exposito

Nearly 20 years ago, two left-of-center musicians struck up conversation in a
dark London nightclub. Hope Sandoval, enigmatic frontwoman of California
dream-pop outfit Mazzy Star, would find a lifelong collaborator in the equally
mysterious Colm Ó'Cíosóig, drummer in Irish shoegaze band My Bloody Valentine.
They first approached each other as fans before they turned into friends, and
their bond would evolve into a trans-Atlantic project called the Warm Inventions.
"We became like family," Ó'Cíosóig says.

Their collaboration has survived not only 15 years, but roughly 5,000 miles of
distance. Sandoval's mornings are often Ó'Cíosóig's nights; it's time for breakfast
when Rolling Stone phones Sandoval, who lives in Berkeley, California, but it's
dinner for Ó'Cíosóig, who's on the line from Dublin. She tells me Ó'Cíosóig owns
a "beautiful houseboat, with a wood-burning fireplace" on a canal in Dublin; he
responds with something that sounds like "Mmmph." Even though they're half a world
apart, the pair seem to communicate intuitively – not just in words, but in lengthy
pauses, whistles and politely muffled laughter. Perhaps the secret behind the Warm
Inventions' trancelike catalog is that the pair have made peace with silence.

Image

Released a little over a month after the September 11th attacks, the group's sparkling
2001 debut, Bavarian Fruit Bread, was met with mixed reviews – Pitchfork lambasted the
album as "[not particularly] compelling, striking or affecting," whereas Mojo lauded
its "narcotic quality … one that perfectly suits these shell shocked, terrorized times."

On principle, the band grew more guarded in their performances, fiercely protecting
the quiet that gave their delicate songcraft such gravitas. After their second release,
2009's Through the Devil Softly, Sandoval and the Warm Inventions booked two sold-out
shows at the Music Hall of Williamsburg. They instated such strict regulations –
"NO PHOTO OR RECORDING OF ANY KIND," read signs on the doors – that anyone who
dared to raise a camera would be reprimanded immediately by a security guard with a
flashlight. The venue was flushed with reverb, save for some chatter from the audience,
at which Sandoval would retaliate with a minute or two of silence. "I love you, Hope!"
shouted a fan. "If you love me so much," said Sandoval, in an unusual show of bravado,
"get these people to shut up."

There's none of that grit to be found on the Warm Inventions' latest release, Until the
Hunter. Released in November, the album came about in 2014, a year after both My Bloody
Valentine and Mazzy Star released their respective comeback LPs (and embarked on
subsequent tours). With the help of Dublin psych aficionados Dirt Blue Gene, the pair
split recording between two of the city's many Martello towers – a series of circular
defense forts along Dublin Bay, featured in the first few pages of James Joyce's Ulysses.

"We rented the towers through Airbnb," says Ó'Cíosóig. "They're cannon towers, built in
1803," he continues, "Just in case Napoleon invaded … That never happened. They're built
like old, stone churches, with domed ceilings." The rotund structures offered a unique
space for the sounds to circulate. Sandoval enjoyed the recording environment so much,
she had an organ shipped to the tower from Germany.

"The sounds just bounce off the walls – it's like a two- or three-second jump in reverb,"
Ó'Cíosóig says. "We didn't have to do much tweaking, it might as well have been mixed
when we left."

Image
Sandoval and Ó'Cíosóig, 2009. "We became like family," Ó'Cíosóig says.
Spencer Weiner/LA Times/Getty

"We didn't get permission from the owners to set up all the gear," says Sandoval.
"I told him, 'Colm, you're crazy.' The last thing they want is some...rock & rollers
showing up with all this gear. Having wine and whatnot. So we had to hide it from them,
keep it a secret for two weeks. One day, the owner showed up. He just walked in, looked
around … and didn't really say anything. But he didn't kick us out."

After recording in Dublin, the pair headed stateside to recruit additional musicians
for Until the Hunter: There was Bay Area eccentric and bowhammer architect Michael Masley,
whom the pair encountered busking at a BART station near Sandoval's place in Berkeley.
While record shopping in Dublin, they were struck by a song from Kurt Vile's 2013 record,
Wakin on a Pretty Daze. "It was just what we wanted," said Sandoval. She emailed Vile
promptly about singing a duet.

"Kurt's a sweetheart," she says. "He happened to be playing at the Fillmore in
San Francisco, so he came to see us at Fantasy Studio, just before his soundcheck,"
she continues. Their one-time meeting became the twinkling love ballad "Let Me Get There."
Vile completed the take in two hours. "Everybody here knows you're the fine one,"
Sandoval sings; "Aww," Vile coos bashfully. Their chemistry is buoyant, if fittingly
off-kilter. "I'd never met him, so it was a little strange," says Sandoval. "Especially
for him ... to go into the studio and sing this little love song. It was a bit weird,
but we had wine, beer. … There's a Mexican place with really good margaritas across
the street. It all worked out."

The duo are hesitant to talk about their work in Mazzy Star and My Bloody Valentine –
or "other partners," as Sandoval refers to them. She says she hasn't even met her other
recent collaborators, Massive Attack, in person. ("I have my own studio that I sing in,"
she says.) In a last-ditch effort to dig deep, Rolling Stone asks Sandoval about the
characters she writes about, in songs both past and present. She sings of many women –
sometimes sunken with lament ("Charlotte") or captured by curiosity ("Suzanne"), or
from the sad-eyed viewpoint of a man ("Halah"). On Until the Hunter, in a breathy sea
shanty called "A Wonderful Seed," her voice projects a sighing sense of reverence for
a specter named Miss Sylvia, taken by the waves. "Who are the women in these stories?"
RS asks. She flirts with the question, sphinx-like in her response.

"I've been writing about the same woman for years," she says.

-"Is she real?"

"Oh, she's real," Sandoval says with a laugh. "She's whoever you want her to be."

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2017, Jan. 2, SWENCH.NET ARTICLE/INTERVIEW w. Hope & Colm, by Eamon Sweeney
https://swench.net/2017/01/02/musical-martellos/
[This is "part 2" to Eamon Sweeney's Nov. 28, 2016 Irish Times interview. Here he adds interview and
article content he didn't have room for in his original Irish Times article]

Musical Martellos, by Eamon Sweeney, Jan. 2, 2016

Image

Martello towers are one of the most distinctive features of Dublin’s coastline. The one in
Sandycove briefly housed a young James Joyce and famously inspired the opening chapter of
his modernist masterpiece Ulysses, which is widely considered to be the most iconic and
influential novel of the 20th century.

Fast forward to the 21st century and the arrival of 2017 and a new album by Hope Sandoval
and the Warm Inventions is a perfect soundtrack for a bracing walk by the seaside. Entitled
Until the Hunter, it was recorded in the Martello towers in Sutton and Dalkey last winter,
which makes it the first album I’m aware of that was fully recorded in a Martello tower.
Apparently, U2 did some demos for The Unforgettable Fire in the Bray tower when it was owned
by Bono, but the album itself was committed to tape in the ballroom of Slane Castle and
Windmill Lane studios by Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois.

Image
Barta Tower, Dalkey

Sandoval sings in Mazzy Star, and has also guested on some amazing songs by Massive Attack
and the Jesus and Mary Chain. The former incidentally have just announced a comeback album
due in March. Co-founder of the Warm Inventions Colm Ó Cíosóig grew up in Dún Laoghaire and
played in a few bands when attending Coláiste Eoin on the Stillorgan Road, including a band
called the Complex with Liam Ó Maonlaí, who later formed the Hothouse Flowers.

Image
Colm Ó Ciosóig and Hope Sandoval

After meeting Kevin Shields at a karaoke tournament in South Dublin, the pair became
inseparable best friends and went on to form My Bloody Valentine in 1983. After a few years
gigging around Dublin they emigrated to the continent to play shows in Holland and Germany.
Eventually, they settled in London and met bassist Debbie Googe and singer and guitarist
Bilanda Butcher. My Bloody Valentine became one of the pioneers of the so-called ‘shoegaze’
movement (two of their albums made the one and four selections Pitchfork of the greatest
shoegaze album of time) and one of the most revered and influential bands in the world.
Their 1992 album is still considered by many to be the best Irish album of all time and
one of the finest of the 90s.

Image
My Bloody Valentine

I spoke to Colm and Hope before Christmas for a feature published in The Irish Times. Some
of the quotes I didn’t have space to use make for very interesting reading. I detected a
maritime theme in the album’s lyrics, which is hardly surprising considering they made it by
the sea. One the track titles is ‘Salt of the Sea’.

“There is definitely a strong maritime theme,” Colm Ó Cíosóig agreed. “The album’s gatefold
sleeve is a picture of the sea. We were in these towers by the ocean, and it seemed to be
part of our mood from just being there I guess. It just seeped in. The mystery of the ocean
by itself is always very inspiring. It is the biggest organism and entity on the planet.
There are all those stories of whales and sharks living for centuries out there.”

Image

As regards the differences between the Sutton and Dalkey towers as acoustic spaces, the Warm
Inventions found that the less furnishings were in the building the better it would function
as a studio. “The one with less furniture sounded better because it had more reverb,” Colm
said. “There was a lot of clean flat metal surfaces that I had to put drapes over just to
stop the reflections. One of them had a kitchen in the living room, and the kitchen was
intruding on the sound basically.”

Hope Sandoval told me about recording the album’s haunting nine-minute long opening track
‘Into the Trees’. “I just got an organ shipped over from Germany and the first time I ever
played it was in the Dalkey tower,” she said. “We had a really crazy jam session very late
at night. The organ sounded amazing in that room. Colm was going from really wild drums to
really slow, hypnotic percussion.”

You can hear that brilliant track, and the whole beautiful album, right here:
[link to Spotify stream of the album]
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2017, JANUARY, L.A. RECORD, Issue 126. Interv. w. Hope & Colm
https://issuu.com/larecord/docs/la_record_126_web
[The interview has one illustration by artist Bijou Karman and no photos or videos]

Image

HOPE SANDOVAL & THE WARM INVENTIONS
Interview by Kristina Benson
Illustration by Bijou Karman

Until the Hunter is Hope Sandoval and the Warm Inventions’ second album; the
first was released back in 2009, which, in this age of relentless demand for
content, seems like a lifetime ago. But this is typical for Hope (of Mazzy
Star, of course) and Colm (O’Ciosoig,of My Bloody Valentine, of course) who
do things when they want, how they want and the way they want. The result,
naturally, is music that sounds like it comes from a better and even truer
place, where the artificial pressures of the outside world dissolve into
the mist and all that’s left is a long sweet dream. Colm and Hope joined
us by phone - she in California, he in Ireland - to talk cats, castles
and the karate lessons that helped change the course of modern music.
.........................................................................

-Hope, do you have any hobbies besides making music? Do you collect
anything? Records? Instruments?

Hope Sandoval: Well, obviously I buy instruments—but no. I wish I could
have a cat collection. That’s my fantasy. I’d be the crazy lady on the
block with all the cats. I only allow myself one cat but I fantasize
about having loads.

-It’s really disciplined to only have one cat.

HS: I know! And I can barely handle the one cat. I didn’t tell you, Colm,
but he didn’t come home until three in the morning. I couldn’t sleep all
night and finally I heard his little door and I went to open the little
door and he walks in and he’s limping. He is ok. He’s sleeping now and I’m
just debating whether I should take him to the vet. He’s one of those cats
who is just a fighter. He thinks he’s in charge of the whole neighborhood
so he’s constantly getting into fights and this will be, like, the fifth
time I’ve taken him to the vet and at this point they’ll probably call child
services on me. It’s just strange. He’s a fighter.

-If you did have a collection, you would be at the vet nearly every other day.

HS: Can you imagine the expense of having ten cats?

-You guys recorded in a place called the Martello Towers. I looked that
up on a map and it looks like there are three ofthem. What are they and
why did you record there?

Colm O’Ciosoig: Well, there’s lots of them. There are more than three.
There are about 23 in existence that are still there and
are actually habitable. They’re not called ‘The’ Martello Towers. There
is a type of tower that is called a Martello tower. They were built by the
English in, like, 1803 to defend against Napoleon invading Ireland,
which never happened. Actually they were originally designed by the French.
We have a little portable recording set-up and we always try to find somewhere
different to record in. You know—we’ve recorded in cabins and stuff in
California. So we were in Ireland and we were trying to find somewhere we
could record and play music. If you want to play music you want to be able to
have some kind of soundproofing and not be bugging your neighbors, so we found
these towers—we found one and stumbled across a second one later that were
available to the public as a holiday rental. It was perfect because they’re
isolated, they have eight-foot-thick walls and they have a really nice stone
chamber on the inside. The acoustics were great. Really good for live tracking
and for the kind of music that we do ourselves. You play into the room. If you
were a really loud, noisy band, it might not work as well. It works to a
certain volume. When you play into the room, it reacts nicely.

-Did it remind you more of a crypt, a church or a museum?

HS: Neither. It was what it was. A tower over the ocean.

CO: There were no religious connotations attached to it. It didn’t seem like
there were any real ghosts there.

HS: I spent the night in a couple of them alone and I wouldn’t recommend it.
You know—it’s a tower. It’s got eight-foot thick walls. Nobody’s going to hear
you if something happens. But they are beautiful. They’re really inspiring.
I just wouldn’t recommend staying alone. Colm has stayed, I guess, many
times alone.

CO: Yeah, I quite enjoyed it. The last time you played LA, you played
Hollywood Forever. Were there any graves that you visited when you went
to play?

CO: Douglas Fairbanks. It just seemed like a big kind of gothic tomb.
Johnny Ramone, as well. The statue. That was kind of wild.

-Hope, they just tore down the 6th St. bridge, which I’m sure you know,
because it was apparently unsafe. Is there something from your childhood
that’s gone now that you wish was still here?

HS: No, not really. I had a horrible childhood in L.A., so take it all.
Just remove it all. I’ve spent most of my time in East L.A. and still
when I go to L.A. that’s where I go—so East L.A., even though I know a
lot of people are moving out and a lot of other people are moving
in—basically it stays the same.

-What about you, Colm? Do you still live in Ireland? Do you divide your
time between there and California?

CO: I move back and forth. I was living in Berkeley for seventeen years
and I recently kind of moved back here for awhile. I don’t see myself
moving back to Dublin permanently. I have a cabin north of San Francisco
and I definitely want to go back there.

-You have Kurt Vile on this album and you had Bert Jansch on another.
It seems like you’re really attracted to these very distinctive guitar
players so … what are the chances of putting Billy Childish on a
song? Could he be a Warm Invention?

HS: I don’t know who that is. Who is it?

CO: Do you know Thee Milkshakes? It was a garage band way back in the
‘80s. I did a drunken interview with him. My band was leaving Ireland
to go to Europe and we had no press so we decided to invent our own
press and we invented a fanzine so we could have an interview in it
but you have to make a fanzine seem valid. The Milkshakes were playing
so I thought, ‘Oh, I’ll interview Billy Childish and then we’ll have
a valid interview in there and it will make the fanzine seem like a
valid fanzine.’ I didn’t have a tape recorder and I got a little
drunk and I was there having this drunken conversation with him
afterwards and scribbling down stuff. When I read it the next day I
couldn’t make heads or tails of what I’d scribbled.

-Did you have to make it all up?

CO: No, we gave up the whole idea. We just thought well, ‘OK, we won’t
have any press.’

-It sounds like you put a lot of effort into faking it so that’s good.

CO: Yeah, we tried. And failed.

-What song on this record was the most satisfying to finish?

CO: That’s an interesting question. That’s giving our secrets away.
Mostly it’s been pretty easy but there was one that we did a couple
takes on and eventually got it right. I can say that we worked a bit
more on ‘Let Me Get There’ than most of the others. One of the songs
was actually written and recorded in one take. Only one version exists.

HS: It was actually two.

CO: Yeah, those two songs. They’re the only recordings of those songs.
Well … actually there are a lot of them where there is only one
recording, if you think about it. Most of the record is the only takes
that exist.

HS: Oh, so it went from ‘one’ to now most of the record?

CO: Thinking about it, yeah. We don’t have multiple takes of all the
other songs.

HS: We don’t like to do that because we do that in our other bands and
after awhile you have to go through all those takes. ‘Let Me Get There,’
we did do a few times. We rehearsed it and then another day we actually
did the final recording.

-So the way you do things is … you do what you want, when you want and
how you want. That goes against everything the internet stands for—do
you have to actively resist that pressure to constantly churn out music?
Stand against the idea you’re supposed to be producing content all the time?

CO: I think people leave us alone. We’ll go for awhile and then it’s like,
‘Oh, we’re back again.’ That’s why we decided to put our own label together.
So no one could pressure us besides ourselves. We like to impose some sort
of deadline so things don’t fall through the cracks—it’s good to get the
whole machinery up and running and get things happening. But yeah—it gets
stressful when you put deadlines in place and you have to approve
the artwork and the test pressings and that kind of stuff. If there’s a
problem then suddenly things get pushed back and you lose your release date.
The extra pressure of having your own label means you have to deal with
questions you’ve never had to deal with before.

-Hope, you were on Capitol and Colm, you were on Creation. Who helped
you the most when you were on those labels?

CO: There were no personal relationships as such, you know? We were so
busy recording and doing music that we didn’t really develop personal
relationships with the labels. Well, I didn’t anyway. Capitol called Mazzy
Star the ‘quintessential artist development band.’ They said that Mazzy Star
were real artists who should be supported and allowed to evolve, which
nowadays is kind of rare.

HS: I can’t really remember anybody at Capitol, it’s sad to say. We didn’t
really get to know anybody there. I think in general even now we’re pretty
isolated. We just basically keep to ourselves and play our music. When
we were on Capitol, we focused on our music and had that kind of arrangement
with them. They knew that they weren’t really allowed into our world—that
business side of things. I can’t really think of anybody although I have to
say that when we would play shows and some of them would come out, they were
all really nice people.

-Who do you wish had made one more album and why?

CO: Possibly Karen Dalton. That would have been good to have some more
material.

-Martha Stewart included Mazzy Star on a list of albums she’d like to play
at a dinner party. Are there any world famous criminals besides Martha
Stewart who you know have enjoyed your music?

CO: There’s got to be but they haven’t told us.

-What if you had your own dinner party?

CO: We love Bert Jansch. He was a friend of ours as well and he’s got loads
of music that’s really great. John Fahey.

-John Fahey wrote a song for Hope. Would
either of you ever write a song specifically
for someone?

CO: I think Hope writes songs for people. She doesn’t really make it
obvious but you’ve written a lot of songs for people.

HS: They’re definitely all inspired by someone.

-How much music do you actually listen to in your daily lives? I know an
artist who doesn’t listen to any music at all while she’s recording because
she doesn’t want to be influenced by it but I know other artists who listen
all the time so they can get new ideas.

CO: We don’t listen to artists for new ideas. We casually listen to stuff
every now and again, to our favorites on and off. We don’t bombard ourselves
with music all the time but we don’t ignore it either. We get into our own
music when we’re recording. We drive around and listen to recordings of what
we’ve been doing. We won’t be comparing it to other things. We’ll just be in
our world of our music.

HS: We listen to Erykah Badu maybe … but we know we’re never going to sound
like that even though that would be amazing.

-Irmin Schmidt from Can said that TV programs are obsessed with the political
opinions of pop stars, but he said they didn’t like doing interviews because
anything they thought was important was in the music already. Do you feel that
that’s true for you?

CO: I think so. That’s a very good way of describing what music is. We are kind
of inspired by Can as well. It seems weird to have to explain your music.
It seems contradictory to what the music is itself. It’s like if you see a
painting and somebody has to explain what the painting is … It’s better
to experience it. We don’t like to dissemble the music too much in words.

-What were the first shows that you ever saw where you knew that you were
seeing something different and special?

CO: For me as a 13 year old punk rocker in Dublin, I was going to punk rock
shows. All-ages shows I used to go to and you had to pay 50p to get in.

HS: I’ve been to a lot of really good shows but the music that I was into in
the 80s were bands like the Rain Parade and the Salvation Army and X, people
like that. It’s still old fashioned rock ’n’ roll. We went to see Connan
Mockasin recently and that was pretty out there and inspiring. Yeah, it was
amazing—really, really good. Colm hung out with him after the show. I don’t
know where I ended up but it was a really good show. I don’t really go out
that often.

CO: I go out sometimes but not loads. Things appear and you go,
‘Oh, that’s cool.’ We’re not really chasing scenes down.

HS: We also saw Kurt.

CO: Yeah, we have to cherry pick our
shows.

-What do you miss most about the past?What do you love most about
the future?

CO: Well, the past … the innocence and the energy that you have for
looking at everything.

-Well, that’s grim.

CO: And the future? What do I look forward to? Making really good
music. I feel like we’ve only just started making music and I think
there’s some better stuff that’s going to come out at some point.
There’s more inspiration and I feel like the journey’s just started.

HS: I don’t really miss the past. The future? Yeah, I mean—what’s next?
Who will I work with next? I’m so lucky to work with all these amazing
musicians and what’s next?

-What do you think about lucid dreaming? Can you control your dreams?

CO: I’ve never experienced lucid dreaming before. I tend just to sleep.

HS: I definitely think people can control their dreams.

-Can you?

HS: To a certain extent. And then you start controlling it and then you
wake up.

-What is the best bar you ever spent an evening in?

HS: Which one have we not spent an evening in? All the bars are fabulous
as long as they’re serving drinks and playing good music. We used to hang
out a lot at this place called the Owl Tree in San Francisco. It’s still
there but it’s not the same.

CO: It used to be really cool. They had loads of taxidermied owls in it and
it was really dark.

HS: And it had velvet wall paper in the hall upstairs on your way to the
bathroom. It was a really cool bar. We used to hang out therea lot
in the ‘90s.

CO: There was a speakeasy we went to in San Francisco that was really cool.
The bar was in an elevator. It went up and down. The bar was IN the elevator?

HS: Yeah!

CO: It was a warehouse space but the bar was in the service elevator and it
would come up and then it would disappear.

-So Colm—did you really do karate as a kid? Or did you and Kevin Shields make
that up as an origin story?

CO: Yeah, I did. Kevin was doing karate and I got into doing karate after
I met him. I met Kevin through a kid who was doing karate with Kevin and I was
in an art class with him. He’s the guy who brought us together and we all ended
up doing karate together.

-Do you still do karate?

CO: No, I don’t. Kevin still does but I don’t. Karate is one of those things
that I already wish I knew how to do. The thought of learning it now isn’t that
appealing. I feel like I’d be in a class with a bunch of five year-olds. Yeah—a
creaky old person trying to do some moves.

HOPE SANDOVAL AND THE WARM
INVENTIONS’ UNTIL THE HUNTER IS
OUT NOW ON TENDRIL TALES. VISIT
HOPE SANDOVAL AND THE WARM
INVENTIONS
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2017, April, SO IT GOES MAG #9, INTERVIEW w. Hope Sandoval

[The mag was published in hard copy form only, not digitally. It has 3 pages of text and 3 pages of photos.
You can order a copy here: http://www.soitgoesmag.com/issue-9/ Hope is interviewed by her friend Charlotte "Courbe" (Charlotte Marionneau) of Le Volume Courbe (I believe translates as "Curved Space"). Hope, David Roback and Colm Ó Cíosóig all played on Charlotte's first Le Volume Courbe album called "I Killed my Best Friend", 2005-'06. Hope plays glockenspiel (but doesn't sing harmony) on the song "Harmony" from the album's single] - Hermesacat / Bob
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Hope Sandoval

I met Hope for the first time on 25th July 1997 at a Yo La Tengo gig at The Garage in London. We had both come with mutual friends, and when they started talking to each other, we were left standing together shyly. I remember asking her name and then asking her how it was spelled. Coming from France I had never heard this name before. We talked about the Cocteau Twins, I said I'd just recorded a single with Simon Raymonde and she told me she had toured with him. After this first moment, we became inseparable and spent the whole summer in her flat at St. John's Wood listening to music and drinking wine till the early hours. I remember her playing Karen Dalton, Nina Simone, Johnny Thunders and The Beta band. I had only written a few songs at the time and she was so generous and supportive that I ended up making my first record. Women can be competitive or feel threatened by a newcomer but she was the opposite, always wishing the best for me. She bought me instruments and welcomed me into her studio in Norway where I recorded what was to become my first single. There are people like this who change the course of your life. Hope is one of them so it was nice to catch up with her for this interview. She calls me her "little sis" and she will remain forever the older sister I never had. I love you sis.

- Charlotte Courbe - aka Le Volume Courbe

Images courtesy of Hope Sandoval
Original photography: Luz Gallardo
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[INTERVIEW]
CHARLOTTE COURBE: What's your favourite noise or sound?

HOPE SANDOVAL: I love some of the sounds from the Bay; the ferries come in and out under the Golden Gate Bridge and signal to the passengers that it's time to board. The horns blow a different blast to signal different messages; one short blast means I intend to leave you on my portside. It can be a very beautiful and haunting sound, especially in the summertime when sound seems to travel more clearly.

CC: I rarely hear you speak on stage. If you had to speak to your audience what are some of the first things you would say?

HS: Someone get me a whisky and then get me outta here!

CC: How old were you when you first felt a connection with music? Was singing your first instrument?

HS: I would say singing was my first step into music. I was singing before I could even talk, and as soon as I could I tried out for chorus in school.

CC: You have a beautiful, distinctive and unique vocal style. Were there any singers when you started who influenced you?

HS: When I was a little girl I listened to a lot of oldies and country music because that's what my older brothers and sisters listened to. Some of the singers who stick out in my memories from that time are people like Aretha Franklin, the Everly Brothers - they did some of the most amazing harmonies. Bobby Gentry, who recorded that gorgeous song "Ode to Billy Joe" - I remember when that song would play I'd sing right along with her and really get into the story because that's what she would do. She would take you there. Her voice is not only beautiful and soulful but at the same time there's a sadness and darkness about it. I think that's something quite rare and absolutely was a big influence on me.

CC: What was your first gig?

HS: The first gig I ever played was with Sylvia Gomez in our project Going Home. We signed up for talent night at McCabe's. It's this music and instrument shop where a lot of great musicians have played, and every now and then they had a talent night. It wasn't a competition or anything like that. It was basically just a night for people who weren't so well known and they could get up and play a few tunes. I think we played three songs, but for us it felt like an hour-long show. We played quite a few shows in LA in those days - one night we even made thirty dollars. We were so happy! We went to an old diner and had cheeseburgers and french fries. It was a fantastic feeling.

CC: Tell me about your first project Going Home. How did you meet Sylvia, and will Going Home records ever come out?

HS: Sylvia and my brother were having a little teenage romance and he thought she and I would have a lot in common. So, one night he put us both on the phone and we spent the whole time talking about the Rolling Stones' best songs and how Keith probably wrote most of them and how sweetly he sang "You Got the Silver" and that was that - the music and conversations are still going on. As far as releasing Going Home music, she's been quite private and protective about it. She's not really interested in that side of playing music. She's happy just writing songs, recording them and then listening back to them once in a while, but hopefully one day we'll put them out there.

CC: You worked with Bert Jansch who sadly we lost recently. Could you share a memory of some of the time you spent with him?

HS: Yes, that was a devastating loss. Not only did we lost Bert but we also lost Loren Jansch, a lovely artist and singer. They both came to visit us once one spring in Norway while we were working on Mazzy Star's "Seasons of Your Day". We had a studio in a massive, beautiful old factory that was built around the 1900s. We invited them over for dinner one evening and planned a small, lovely meal with a few close friends. We were so nervous running around trying to organise everything perfectly. It turned out to be one of the most memorable evenings I ever had. One of us asked Bert, "What was the first guitar you ever played?" He told us his mother bought him his first guitar and it was a kit guitar, which meant you had to make it yourself and that was because it was less expensive than one already made. As I sat there listening to Bert's memories I was so moved. We all were. I couldn't help but think back to when I was a teenager hearing him for the first time over the phone from a friend who called me late at night and played a song off "Rosemary Lane" saying, "Sorry to wake you but you just have to hear this." We were so elevated and inspired by his voice...and here I was all those years later sitting across the table from him having glasses of wine and sharing stories.

CC: Can you talk a little about how London has had an influence on your life and music?
HS: It's been a second home for me, and David's first home for a long time.Our first label was Rough Trade Records with Geoff Travis so we had an instant connection to London. We would come into town and Geoff's office would help organise various things for us, like fabulous apartments and passes to supercool shows. Geoff was the one who got us our first show with Bert Jansch. One day he asked us, "If you could play a show with any artist of your choice, who would it be?" Within five minutes of saying Bert Jansch, he was on the phone with Bert's manager and just like that, it was done. We left his office saying to each other, "Wow, Geoff is more than cool, he's got that Midas touch." I suppose that's when our love affair with London started.

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CC: What was it like singing "Fade Into You" for the first time on live TV in 1994 on "Conan O'Brien"?

HS: It wasn't really that different from playing our live shows because I usually have my eyes closed throughout most of the performances! I could be anywhere:the Taj Mahal, the Grand Canyon, Winchester House...wherever I want to take myself at the time. It wasn't until the end of the song when Conan came over to say "Hello" and shake our hands that I became really anxious. I wasn't expecting him to be so tall. When I turned around to say hi, a giant towered over me. I expected him to be 5'7" or 5'8". Conan is 6'4" and I'm quite small so I was caught off guard a bit!

CC: You wrote a song "California" on the last Mazzy Star record "Seasons of Your Day". I know you grew up there. Is it still your favourite place to be, and why?

HS: Both David and I grew up in California and have spent a lot of time away in other countries. Whenever we would meet up somewhere in Norway or London, we would go on about how amazing California is and how it's the best place on the planet. California is our home and it has everything. Now all we need are our friends from London, Ireland and Norway to join us here!

CC: I know you love artists like Alice Coltrane and the Rolling Stones. Is there a particular style of music that you are more into these days?

HS: I love all music: popular, obscure, eccentric, esoteric. I've always been around music lovers of all types, so I'm inspired by most everything.In the morning I might be listening to Heifetz and by the evening I'm listening to Rufus and Chaka Khan or Marlene Dietrich in German. It's all good!

CC: Do you think streaming sites and the easy ability to revisit live performances through Youtube has dimmed the mystery attached to musicians?

HS: No, I don't think so. If someone's music has a mystique to it, it doesn't matter how many times you revisit it. It will always generate the emotion that you set out to gratify. Music and film on the internet are not really that different from pressing play and rewind on an old VHS machine. There's just more of it and it's easier to access. The end result is basically the same: watching, listening and feeling.

CC: You and Colm Ó Cíosóig just recently released your third record together,"Until the Hunter". Can you tell a story you haven't told anyone else about the making of the new album?

HS: The Philicorda organ that was used on the first track "Into the Trees", whch happens to be my favourite track, was smashed up a few weeks before the recordings. Of course Colm found an amazing organ fixer and it was repaired. I won't tell how it was smashed up but it wasn't my fault!

CC: You have co-written songs with Massive Attack over the past few years and I know you've never met them. Is it strange to have such a musical connection with people you've never even been in the same room with?

HS: No, it doesn't seem strange at all. It's really inspiring to be working with these musical phantoms. I've heard they're very nice people...believe it or not from my own family! My brother and niece spent some time with them at one of their LA shows. They told me that as soon as they gave their names to the box office they were whisked away backstage and were treated like old friends. They had the best time. Maybe one day my brother can introduce me to them, It was so nice to hear that Grant and the others were so sweet and generous to them. I was so happy and grateful that they treated my family so well.

CC: Once you told me a sweet story about your Dad giving you advice on what you should do during a live performance. Do you remember this?

HS: Well, when my Dad came to some of my first shows he could not believe that I had no interaction with the audience. I mean, my Dad was old school and a good show for my father was when the entertainer comes out saying, "Hello, how's everybody doing tonight...you all ready for a fabulous time?!" Here his daughter was on stage in front of hundreds of people who came out to support her and not only did she not speak but she didn't even move! So, one night after a show he came backstage and said, "You need to talk to the people. You need to say 'Hello, and thank you for coming out'," and then he proceeded to show me how to send kisses into the audience by putting his hands to his mouth with a kiss and then casting them into the room. Needless to say, my Dad was trying to show me how to treat your audience with common courtesy and a bit of pizzazz. Now every time I play a show I always hear my Dad's voice saying, "Say hello, say thank you," and sometimes I even find myself on the verge of blowing kisses out into the audience.
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Anyone interested can view and download scans of all 6 interview pages (3 pages of photos, plus 3 of text) from So It Goes mag from a photo hosting site I upped them to, here:
http://i903.photobucket.com/albums/ac23 ... ahpxoh.png
The link above is for page 1(of 6), but if you click on the arrow on the right side of the photo, it should take you to p.2, & you can scroll through all 6 the same way. Note: At mazzystar.free.fr I had to reduce size (& quality) of the photos for them to fit on the page here without being cut off. The photos of the six pages at the photo hosting site link are better quality resolution than the versions you see in this post.
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2917-10-20, WBUR radio, Boston, INTERVIEW with HOPE & COLM
http://www.wbur.org/artery/2017/10/20/h ... inventions
{One photo accompanies the article. It's high res. at the site. I had to resize it to make it fit in this thread by reducing its size and quality significantly. So, if you want a good quality copy, save it from the original site!]
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Hope Sandoval And The Warm Inventions Want To Envelop You In Sound
October 20, 2017
Jim Sullivan

Rock ‘n’ roll stories about life on the road tend to be rather mundane affairs: travel, set-up, sound-check, gig -- that’s where the fun happens! -- over to the hotel, sleep, wake up, repeat.

The opening date of Hope Sandoval and the Warm Inventions tour was anything but that. The quintet kicked their U.S. tour in Sonoma, California, at the Gundlach Bundschu Winery on Oct. 8. The gig went fine.
“We got on our bus and we took off and were headed toward Portland,” says drummer-songwriter Colm Ó Cíosóig, on the phone from Philadelphia, “and because we were in wine country we went down some small roads. We heard there was a fire nearby and we saw some fires on the ridge, but we didn’t know. We turned the corner and the fires were right there and we drove pretty much directly into the fires. It was quite terrifying. It was like a hurricane, all these strong winds going crazy. I guess the winds whipped it up.

“We had no choice but to reverse out of it. The tour bus and the trailer was wobbling and you could see the fire chasing us back out of there. It was pretty terrifying. We were getting ready to just dump the bus and run for our lives.”

At the Portland gig [the writer errs, it was at the Seattle show. I was there - Hermesacat/Bob}, two nights later, Sandoval was still so shaken she left the stage after six songs. She and the band returned after nearly an hour to finish the set.

“Yeah, it was horrifying, what was going on,” Sandoval says, during a joint interview with her Warm Inventions partner. She lives in Berkeley — as Ó Cíosóig had done once as her roommate. “Those are our neighbors. It’s heartbreaking, all of these people. The winery we played survived it, thank God,
but a lot of people lost their homes.”

More centered now, Sandoval and the Warm Inventions are near the end of their 10-date U.S. tour, playing Royale in Boston on Saturday, Oct. 21. Ó Cíosóig jokes that “when you go on tour, things improve, get better as you go along, so probably by the time we finish the tour we’ll be about ready to start.”

Sandoval laughs slightly.

The two have lived together and been off-and-on musical partners going back to 2000. The following year they made their album debut with “Bavarian Fruit Bread.” I first talked with them on the verge of their first Boston gig in 2002. The two were introduced by mutual friend Kevin Shields [the writer errs. In a 2016 Dublin radio interview, Hope and Colm talk in detail about how they met. She said her boyfriend of the time (likely William Reid of JAMC) introduced them -Hermesact/Bob], guitarist for Ó Cíosóig's other band, My Bloody Valentine.
"I met Colm,” she told me then, “and Colm and I started to spend a lot of time together. I had a portable studio I was traveling with. We started to write together and that's what happened. The songs just evolved into what they are.”

Sandoval stressed music's potential to transport the listener. "I think music is like little films, and it's nice to listen to music and really escape."
Hope Sandoval and the Warm Inventions output has been minimal. After their debut, there was the “Through the Devil Softly” album in 2009, the “Until the Hunter” album last year and this year a three-song EP called “Son of a Lady.”

Sandoval and Ó Cíosóig are each part of better-known bands. Sandoval’s is the dreamy, dark and psychedelic Mazzy Star (with guitarist David Roback), which had the hit “Fade into You” in 1994. Ó Cíosóig’s is the aforementioned Irish band My Bloody Valentine, which notched one of the most stunning debuts in rock with “Loveless” in 1991 [the writer errs, MBV released an earlier full-length album, "Isn't Anything" in 1988 - Hermesact/Bob], featuring blistering but beautiful white-noise rock.

Sandoval says Mazzy Star “has nothing right now. We do plan on going into the studio, but we don’t have any dates. We’re focused on [this] tour. We’re just doing a very small benefit for Esperanza Spalding [her Keys to Wellness Concert Nov. 22] in San Francisco. I think we’ll be on stage 15 minutes.”

Ó Cíosóig confirms rumors of a My Bloody Valentine album next spring. “I’ve been working on that preceding this tour,” he says, “and I’m going to go back and work on that once the tour is done. It’s in the making.”

Both stress the Warm Inventions is, right now, “pretty high up there” in terms of priorities. The Warm Inventions don’t have the country tinge of Mazzy Star, but there are similarities: an emphasis on sound that envelops a listener, one that moves slowly and demands patience. There are Sandoval’s sultry, almost detached vocals, pitched between melancholia and sweetness and an aura of mystery. Sandoval sings in a whispery, alluring voice — she's the siren on the rocks.

The Warm Inventions are, by and large, like Mazzy Star, a quiet band, a thought Sandoval quickly counters: “I don’t think either band is quiet; I think both are quite loud."

“But, there are quiet passages,” Ó Cíosóig asserts.

“There are some quiet songs, definitely,” Sandoval says. “The bands aren’t, like, heavy, heavy loud bands. And [we have] a quiet audience, obviously, so when you play a quiet song it’s nice to have quietness in the audience.”

“I like the tension of playing things really quietly, although with the last album
[‘Until the Hunter’] it got quite loud and then came back down again," Ó Cíosóig says.

"It’s nice to have something that can get to points that are really delicate and quiet and has tension to it as well. And then [with My Bloody Valentine] to go in the opposite direction.”

Warm Inventions songwriting is collaborative, but O’Ciosoig says, “I wouldn’t try to do the lyrics.”

“We’re quite complementary,” Sandoval adds, saying there’s little conflict and little pre-planning when they go in the studio. “Especially when we’ve been working again with the guys from [the Irish band] Dirt Blue Gene. We don’t tell them what to do and some of the songs are written with them.”

Three members of Dirt Blue Gene -- guitarist Dave Brennan, we have a keyboardist Mick Whelan and bassist Al Browne -- flesh out the band on this tour.

“The songs have an unspoken natural, feel to them,” Ó Cíosóig says. “We just go on journeys from jamming around with ideas.”

The band is strict in stipulating that no photography or video is to take place during their concerts. They’re aiming to create a calming, but stimulating, environment. Part of that is engendered by the nature of the music and part of it by Sandoval’s stoic, near immobile and almost entirely-in-the-dark stage presence. To say she’s reserved would be an understatement.

“I don’t feel that comfortable on stage,” Sandoval says. “It’s a really strange thing to be doing, to go on stage and all of a sudden have bright lights and spotlights. That would be really bizarre.”
“My suit of armor is my drum kit,” pipes in Ó Cíosóig, with a laugh. “I’m at the back of the stage with the drum kit in front me.”

Sandoval said she used to get blowback from certain audiences and critics for her stage presence (or lack thereof) “in the ‘90s. All the time. I think now people are just fine with not seeing the band really. They enjoy the visuals. Basically, [on a scrim behind us] we’re using really old photographs that we’ve collected over the years, mostly from the 1900s, old family portraits.”

“There’s a moving element to them as well,” Ó Cíosóig adds, “some slight animation as well, moving slowly. The pictures are changing in slow motion.”
The aim is to create something that, while melancholic, comforts and envelops an audience.

“We do like a lot of simple, sweet music that is very comforting,” Ó Cíosóig says.
“It’s important to have music that’s comforting during times of stress.”
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Jim Sullivan Contributor, The ARTery
Jim Sullivan is a former Boston Globe arts and music staff writer who contributes to various publications, TV and radio outlets -- including WBUR's The ARTery.
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2017, Oct. 6
Hope Sandoval and Colm O’Cíosóig’s Significant Favorites [PLAYLIST of 16 songs chosen by Hope & Colm]
Curated By: HOPE SANDOVAL AND COLM O’CÍOSÓIG
Published By: THE DOWSERS
http://www.the-dowsers.com/playlist/hop ... t=sandoval

(QUOTE): "Though best known for their respective work with dream-pop deities Mazzy Star and My Bloody Valentine, Hope Sandoval
and Colm O’Cíosóig have been collaborators in Sandoval’s other band—rootsy psych-soul ensemble The Warm Inventions—since 2001.
On the heels of their recent E.P., Son of a Lady, the duo have created a playlist for The Dowsers that they’ve named “Significants.”
1. If I Didn't Care - The Ink Spots
2. Suzanne - Leonard Cohen
3. Chimacum Rain - Linda Perhacs
4. Swimming Through Stone - Mariee Sioux
5. A Woman Like You - Bert Jansch
6. La Bambola - Ennio Morricone
7. Faking Jazz Together - Connan Mockasin
8. Zu Zu Mamou - Dr. John
9. Pull Up To The Bumper - Grace Jones
10. Roll On Rosie - Fred Neil
11. Vastapol - Elizabeth Cotten
12. Ode To Billie Joe - Bobbie Gentry
13. Wichita Lineman - Glen Campbell
14. Something On Your Mind - Karen Dalton
15. Le Petit Chevalier - Le Volume Courbe
16. Without Her - Harry Nilsson

Let them explain:
'This playlist is a fine example of all the different personalities that we surround ourselves with for happy and sad times.'
—Hope Sandoval and Colm O’Cíosóig

Note: the duo submitted their playlist to The Dowsers via YouTube [uploads], and it included a couple of film clips and live TV appearances that can’t be sourced on Spotify. The playlist above includes the original recorded versions of their song selections but, for the full sensory experience, check out their original YouTube playlist." https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUUv9h ... _polymer=1

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...........................................................................................................
***********************************************************************************************************
WFUV, NYC radio interview + 3-song performance with Colm, Hope , and Dave Brennan as HS&TWI as a trio.Recorded on 2017-10-24, and posted to WFUV's site 2017-11-30
http://www.wfuv.org/content/hope-sandov ... tions-2017
[One photo accompanies the article at WFUV's site]:
Image
Photo taken at WFUV studios 2017-10-24, Colm, Hope, & Dave Brennan

I had to resize the photo above to make it fit into this .fr thread. You can download a better quality version from WFUV's article or from here: https://imgur.com/uzmnDrb
I've also upped the audio file + transcript of this live performance+interview to a file hosting site where anyone interested can DL it, here: http://www.filefactory.com/file/3jqyqd6 ... 202017.zip

00 Intro
01 Suzanne
02 (Interview1)
03 Day Disguise
04 (Interview2)
05 Let Me Get There
06 (Interview3)

Hope Sandoval and The Warm Inventions completed a 10-date October U.S. tour
on Oct. 22, 2017 at Brooklyn, NYC (venue: Brooklyn Steel). Two days later,
they did this radio studio session in NYC.
I've upped a video (slide show) version of this recording to my youtube Channel,
here: https://youtu.be/4_nbKbkFMb4
........................................................................................

My transcript I typed up of the interview audio recording recorded at WFUV studios, NYC, Oct. 24, 1017
and posted to the WFUV web site on Nov. 30, 2017.

[Intro by the interviewer, Carmel Holt]:

Hope Sandoval’s ethereal voice has been with us since the early '90s,
first known to us as the lead singer for Mazzy Star, and
Colm Ó Cíosóig’s drumming since the mid-'80s in his band, My Bloody
Valentine.

The two started working together in the early aughts as Hope Sandoval
& the Warm Inventions, and since, they've slowly released three full length
albums, and three EP’s - each one feeling like a long-awaited gift.

Hi, I'm Carmel Holt. Their latest "Until The Hunter" came out in November of 2016,
the follow-up to their 2009 album, Through The Devil Softly. Once again, the new
collection was well worth the wait, as was their long overdue first visit to
our studios. We begin this very special "'FUV Live" with Hope Sandoval and
The Warm Inventions with a performance of a song from their 2001 debut
"Bavarian Fruit Bread." Here's "Suzanne" live on WFUV.

["Suzanne" is played live]

WFUV's CARMEL HOLT: It's Hope Sandoval and The Warm Inventions live in Studio 8 at 90.7 FM
and wfuv.org. The new album is "Until The Hunter." There we get treated to a song from
the debut which is really cool, going back to "Bavarian Fruit Bread."
Uh, welcome to WFUV, you guys.
COLM Ó Cíosóig: Hi
WFUV: Thanks so much for coming in. Um, so I was, I was saying to you, um, before, I was so
excited to, um, to have you here to talk about the new record, but also to start with
something from the first because it's our first chance to talk to you, and, um, long
over due. How did this project come into existence? How did the two of you meet?
COLM: Um, we met in London back in, was it, '97? I was at a gig. Strangely, it was actually
Deb in my band. It was her other band.
HOPE Sandoval: Snow Pony
COLM: Snow Pony
HOPE: I don't know if you know them
COLM: So, I went to the gig, and, um, I saw William Reid [of The Jesus and Mary Chain] was there.
And we'd met them on and off touring at various times, and I was, "Oh, well that's William."
And he was with Hope 'cause he was goin' out with Hope at the time. And, and I think it
was William who pointed me out to Hope
HOPE: Yeah. And I said "You better introduce me to him before the evening is over." And uh, William's
quite shy, so he didn't really want to, and I insisted. I had to meet him. And it's, it turned out that you
knew my music too, so-
COLM: Mm, yeah, yeah. I was a big-, I was a huge fan
WFUV: You were a huge Mazzy Star fan.
COLM: Yeah, yeah
WFUV: Oh, my God, that's funny
COLM: Mm
WFUV: And so, what, what was it for you Hope that made you, like, say I have to meet Colm?
HOPE: Well, he's one of the most the most amazing drummers
WFUV: Yeah, there's that, yeah [laughs]
HOPE: [laughs]
COLM: [laughs] I went for an audition with Hope at William's studio, and uh, she had a bunch of people
there. I met (inaudible) from Cocteau Twins and some other people, and uh-
HOPE: Had a big party [laughs]
COLM: Yeah. Unfortunately, I. I made the mistake of, uh, accepting some of William's joint
WFUV: Uh huh
Colm: Before we started playing
WFUV: Yeah
COLM: And it was so strong I got incredbly stoned
WFUV: Uh huh
COLM: I couldn't play. I was in this trapped bubble of any sound I made was gigantic in my head.
It was like, um, this music was super slow, but I wasn't used to slow music either. So I'd be
hitting the cymbal and it would go "doing", (resonate, ah)
WFUV: [laughs]
HOPE: [laughs]
COLM: And somebody else said "Jesus, that's out of time." And I think I got one minute where
I was actually-, I got it right. And Hope clocked that, she noticed it. She came over:
"Oh yeah, that seems about right."
WFUV: [laughs] So this is London, 1997
COLM: Yeah
HOPE: Yeah, around, yeah
WFUV: And so, at what point did you say hey we, we've got something special here.
We need to do a project?
HOPE: Um, Colm played us some of his music that he was doing on his own. Just completely
on his own. And it was amazing. It was stunning, beautiful. Me and William actually
started fighting over him.
COLM: [laughs]
HOPE: Colm would come over. We'd have wine. We'd listen to his music. Colm would leave,
and William would say "I want to work with him." And I'd say "Well I'm the one who thought of it,
I want to work with him." So, that's how it happened. And then Colm's sister lives in San Francisco,
or used to live in San Francisco.
COLM: Yeah
HOPE: So, he started coming over to California and we started hanging out
COLM: And then, yeah, we just started jamming
HOPE: Playing music
COLM: Playing music together, and we just kind of came-, started from there, really.
WFUV: And that's where we got the first album which was I think 2001?
COLM: Yeah, that's right, yeah
WFUV: For "Bavarian Fruit Bread"
HOPE: Yeah
WFUV: Hope Sandoval and The Warm Inventions our guests at 90.7 FM and wfuv.org.
The new album is called "Until the Hunter." Let's get into this next song. Do
either one of you want to set up "Day Disguise"?
COLM: Oh, yeah, it's a, it's a really delicate, kinda finger-picky kind of song. It's kind of
influenced by Fred Neil as you can maybe hear.
WFUV: I'm very glad that you said that because it always reminded of "The Dolphins" song, yeah.
COLM: Well, "The Dolphins" is said, is sung in the song. It's a little nod to Fred.
WFUV: Alright, well here it is, it's Hope Sandoval and The Warm Inventions live on WFUV

["Day Disguise" is performed live]

WFUV: There's "Day Disguise" live in Studio A, 90.7 FM and wfuv.org. Our guests today, Hope
Sandoval and The Warm Inventions, and I'm talking with Hope and with Colm. Let's get to talking
about "Until The Hunter." Um, it's got so many amazing stories, like it feels like there's a bunch
of stuff that happened around the making of this album that were almost magical happenstance.
Can you tell us a little bit about where you guys ended up to record the new album?
COLM: On the last tour that we did for the previous record we found this place to rehearse in,
ah, to stay in. It was a round tower. It was in Dublin, and uh, these towers are called Martello towers.
They were built, uh, in defense against Napoleon in 1805, I think.
WFUV: Uh huh
COLM: And what's great about them is that they're eight foot thick walls. There's no sound
gets in or out, so it's completely sound proofed. And isolated as well, on the coast as well,
and in beautiful locations. And I just loved the sound that was in there. It's just an ama-, it's
an amazing room 'cause it's, it's circular room and reflections don't really bounce around too much.
There's a reverb that goes for about three seconds and dies really naturally. So, it's a-, you know,
circular rooms, stone rooms are amazing to record in. We set the whole band in there and then
we just put the amps behind couches and stuff like that, kind of, you know, go Bose. And just, the reverb
in the room was great. The drum kit, my little drum kit sounded amazing there.
I said, "ah, my drum kit's never sounded as good as this."
HOPE: [laughs]
COLM: And we had Hope out in the kitchen with her head phones on.
HOPE: Where else are they going to put me (laughs)? It was actually really nice.
The kitchen had the view
COLM: Yeah it was 360, ah, you know, windows around it
HOPE: It was really beautiful
COLM: It was this view of the ocean, and some of the visuals we have with this tour
[stage projection visuals] were filmed from that-, those windows
WFUV: So, when you guys get together to do a record, um, I was really curious about this
because it almost seems like Hope Sandoval and The Warm Inventions are in like a seven year
cycle now, like seven or eight, right, -ish?
COLM: Seems to have fallen that way
WFUV: I mean obviously you guys have other things that you're doing, so you're doing this
when you find the time.
COLM: Mm
WFUV: But I guess it's a two-part question. One is, at what point do you, like who makes
the first call? It's like, "hey Hope, it's Colm, it's time to do a new record." Or Hope,
"hey, you know, it's time to make a new record." Or like, does each time kind of happen
organically on its own?
HOPE: I think it's usually me that says "should we make another record?"
COLM: Yeah, and you know, I turn up with my guitar and say "hey (inaudible) a song."
HOPE: "Okay then" [laughs]
WFUV: It's that easy
HOPE: I, I, I wouldn't say it's easy. I mean we do have our other bands, so we go back and
forth
COLM: Yeah
WFUV: Do you write for this project specifically, or does it all happen when you guys are
together? When was the material for this album written?
COLM: A lot of it was just ah, pretty recent, you know, a year before the album came out,
I guess. Most of it.
HOPE: Yeah
WFUV: Hope Sandoval and The Warm Inventions here at 90.7 FM and wfuv.org. The new album
is called "Until the Hunter." Before we get back to music, um, I would love to talk about,
I was saying about all the kind of like happenstance and kind of fun, magical things that
happened for this record, um, including the towers and the location. But also the musicians
who you collaborated with. Um, can you tell us a little bit, for example, about The Artist General
that you got to do-
HOPE: (laughs) Michael [Michael Masley]. Um, I was walking in downtown Berkeley and I just heard this guy playing
this beautiful- ah, I don't even know how to describe it. It's like the most beautiful sound. And
I went back and took his card, put some money in his, his hat, and googled him, and was even more blown
away. And when Colm came back to California I turned Colm onto him and Colm loved him. And we tried
to get in touch with him. He didn't really respond to our emails or our calls
COLM: Eventually, we got thorugh to him. He was, yeah, very keen on just comin' up and jamming and-
HOPE: Yeah
WFUV: So, can you describe a little bit about the instruments he's playing. I mean, I know a picture's
worth a thousand words. And I actually did google him and it's amazing. Like, he has sort of a dulcimer style.
COLM: Yeah, that's right. He has, it's a kind of dulcimer and he's made these hammers. Usually, a dulcimer
is played with hammers, but he created this new thing called a bow hammer. He made these bows on his
fingers like Edward Scissorhands
HOPE: (laughs)
COLM: Like huge, long finger nails. But they are "bow hammers" he called them. So you can bow the
strings and hammer them at the same time. So, you can hammer and bow, so you, you're basically kind of
playing like these kind of cello type stuff, and then hammering as well, So, it's, it has that
dulcimer sound with kind of crazy strings in it
HOPE: So, it's like each finger has a hammer
WFUV: Wow
HOPE: Which is pretty incredible
COLM: Hm
WFUV: Where do we hear him on the record? Maybe in the, the lead track, right?
COLM: Yeah, "Into The Trees," he's that-, on that track he's playin' the gong with a
-was it a the kitchen utensil
HOPE: It's not an egg mixer but it's a-
COLM: Yeah, it's like a whisker, or something.
HOPE: (whispers): I don't know
COLM: It's like a, a little claw, you know
HOPE: It's not a spatula, but it's sort of like a spatula.
WFUV: Okay
COLM: It's got four fingers and he had rubber, rubber ends on it. So, he'd be
scraping it like a little hand, like this little robot hand going down the gong
HOPE: He was so happy, he was so excited because it actually had a really, really intense,
gorgeous sound, right?
COLM: And also he played a thing called a nickleharpa. It played like an autoharp, but it's
a violin kinda thing, it's a stringed instrument. And it looks kind of like an autoharp. But it's,
it's got strings and you, you bow it. That's the kind of string sounds that you hear
towards the end of the song
WFUV: Did he come to the towers or did-, where did you record him?
HOPE: He did not come to the towers. We recorded it-
COLM: We recorded in Berkeley
HOPE: Yeah, at Fantasy Studio
WFUV: Oh, wow. Is that primarily the two places that "Until The Hunter" was recorded?
COLM: Yeah
WFUV: And then the other collaborators you had on the album, um, I know we're about to get
to the song that had Kurt Vile
HOPE: Mm hm
WFUV: Doing the duet. Really curious about how you guys connected with him.
HOPE: We fell in love with his music. It was when we went to that drum shop in Dublin, and-
COLM: Oh yeah, that's right, they were playing Kurt Vile. And we asked, uh, who's that, you
know, that sounded really goood
HOPE: Yeah, we asked the guy, who is this? 'Cause they were playing nothing but Kurt that
afternoon. That's how we got introduced to him. And, we thought he would be perfect for that
song.
WFUV: Did you initially conceive of that song as a duet?
HOPE: No
COLM: No, no
HOPE: It wasn't until I started listening to it, you know, the demo of it, and thinking hm, this
could be a duet. And he was amazing, you know he-, we weren't sure he'd be into it, you know, like some
people they don't want to do that sort of thing, you know
COLM: Yeah, he made all these cool sounds, as well, like there are little humming noises, and stuff
HOPE: Yeah, cat sounds and- [laughs]. It's nice.
WFUV: There's a lot of that on this record, by the way. You know, I just want to compliment you on
how each album progressively feels more playful and more open and has like, like this boundary pushing
thing, like even though it's consistent in sound there's stuff to kind of explore and sink your
teeth into sonically. Um, I don't know if that resonates for you. But I mean especially that opening
track which is probably my favorite on the album and it's like over nine minutes long.
COLM: Mm [inaudible]
WFUV: Do you guys feel that? Do you feel that you know the sound of the band even though
there's all this time that goes between and maybe that serves the purpose that has kind
of like expanded on, on the sound where you began it?
COLM: Yeah, we al-, we like to experiment, and we're into loads of different types of music,
from regular, you know, songwriting to like Sun Ra or Can or Faust, or something.
It's good to throw just their elements in there, but not consciously. We're just being
free. You know, it's just what ever happens, happens. It's not a conscious decision like to be weird.
HOPE: (laughs)
WFUV: Hope Sandoval and The Warm Inventions here on WFUV. We have another amazing player here
with us today. I want to make sure we don't leave him out. Can you introduce us to Dave?
HOPE: Dave Brennan, an amazing guitarist, old friend
COLM: Mm. He was amazing on the tour, and he, you know, played amazingly
HOPE: We've had a pretty good time on the, on the tour
COLM: Yeah. It's been a crazy tour, you know. We had a sort of a baptism by fire, kind of thing
WFUV: Oh my God, I know, I heard about that, the wildfires
COLM: Yeah, yeah. So it was a close call, yeah. We were getting prepared there, prepared
to run off the bus and leave, and jump the bus
HOPE: Yeah
COLM: Because the only way out was to reverse, so we were reversing this tour bus down a country road
with a trailer on it that was wobbling from side to side. And we could see the flames just chasing us
HOPE: On each side of the road
WFUV: What?
HOPE: And we didn't know that there were fires. We played the show
WFUV: This was in wine country
COLM: Yeah,yeah, Sonoma
HOPE: Mm hm, Sonoma, yeah
WFUV: Uh huh
HOPE: And we played the show and nobody said anything. But there was a crazy wind storm
COLM: Mm
HOPE: I mean to the point that you could not see anything
COLM: Yeah
HOPE: That's how bad it was
COLM: Dust was everywhere. I had beaches on my drum kit. I was looking at my cymbal and was
"Yeah, there's a beach there," and it's moving around. and there's a beach on my tongue [laughs]
HOPE: Sand, yeah. My glockenspiel was full of dust, my harmonica. I mean it was, it was crazy
COLM: Yeah, barn doors were banging. It was just crazy, really
HOPE: [laughs] But it was sort of cool.
COLM: Yeah, it was cool, yeah
HOPE: It was like a haunting experience
COLM: Yeah, it was like the witches are out to play tonight, you know. It was wild.
HOPE: But we didn't know about the fires until we were in our bus. I was already asleep
in my bunk, and the tour manager came over to my bunk and said "Get up, get dressed, and
get ready to run off the bus. There's fires."
COLM: Hm
HOPE: I just thought, "oh no." I mean, I wasn't surprised, but it was so scary
COLM: Mm
WFUV: What a way to start a tour
COLM: Yeah
HOPE: Yeah
WFUV: Wow. Well, thankfully, you guys got out of that, um, unscathed
HOPE: Yeah
COLM: Mm, yeah, we were traumatized for, you know, a few days [laughs]
WFUV: I bet you were. Came within inches, right?
COLM: Mm, Yeah, yeah
HOPE: Yeah, and so many people lost their homes and I mean it's just terrible
COLM: A lot of them died as well. It was a narrow escape 'cause as we, we turned around,
we managed to find a drive way. Our tour manager was-, he ran back and he found a driveway.
We reversed into the driveway, then turned around. But as, as we turned around, we
drove by a, a police car that had-, was crushed by a tree that had fallen down. We had to,
to scrape the bus past this fallen tree with who knows, you know what happened to that policeman
in that car, you know. Yes, pretty, pretty harrowing
WFUV: Yeah, yeah you think touring is a glamorous life, but man [laughs]
COLM: Yeah. Yeah, yeah
WFUV: Hope Sandoval and The Warm Inventions here at 90.7 FM and wfuv.org. And in that
case I guess the "hot" inventions. "Until The Hunter" is the name of the new album. Um,
we were talking about this song before and uh, love it if you guys would play
"Let Me Get There."

["Let Me Get There" is played live]

WFUV: "Let Me Get There," It's Hope Sandoval and The Warm Inventions from the album
"Until The Hunter," and now live in Studio A, and a beautiful version of that, and
actually more similar to the "Son Of A Lady" version
COLM: Yeah
WFUV: And you guys have that new e.p. too which is quite a treat so fast after
"Until The Hunter." Well, it's been super fun to have you guys here, and I hope that, uh,
I mean I don't want to resist the seven year cycle but hopefully we won't have to wait
as long...
Hope: [laughs]
WFUV: ...for the next one. Do you guys have any, any plans for working on something new yet?
COLM: Not yet [laughs]
WFUV: Okay
HOPE: Not yet
COLM: [laughs] But hopefully, it will be sooner than seven years
WFUV: Thank you so much for coming in today
HOPE: Thank you
COLM: Thanks
WFUV Producer: Hope Sandoval and The Warm Inventions, our guests on today's "WFUV Live."
Their latest album is "Until The Hunter," and it's out now. You can listen and watch today's
show along with many other exclusive conversations and performances in the 'FUV Vault at
wfuv.org. This session was engineered by Him O'Hara and produced by me, Alisa Ali. Thanks for
listening. This is 90.7, WFUV in New York
Last edited by Hermesacat on Sun Oct 09, 2022 10:31 pm, edited 231 times in total.
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Re: Hope & Colm INTERVIEWS, 2016+

Postby Homeostasis » Sun Oct 30, 2016 1:53 am

Hermesacat wrote:-Noisey: Hope, it seems you are painful to interview. Is this true or is it a legend?

Hope Sandoval: What do you want me to answer? I have no opinion on it.

Colm O'Ciosoig: It's really an odd question to start an interview.


Wow. One of the strangest ways to start an interview I think I've ever read. Personally, I would've hung up on the guy straight after that. He was lucky to get the interview he did.

Hermesacat wrote:If you had to describe your music to friends, how would you?

Hope: We have no friends and never will.


What a line. I love it. :D
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Re: new INTERVIEWS w. Hope & Colm, 2016+ [2 SO FAR]

Postby Hermesacat » Tue Nov 01, 2016 2:46 pm

A second interview turned up at The Consequence of Sound site, here:
http://consequenceofsound.net/2016/11/b ... nventions/
It has better questions from the interviewer and many more elaborate responses from Hope & Colm than the French Noisey/Vice interview has. They're more talkative in the CoS one. Among other interesting things we learn are:
They plan to start touring next March (no other details yet). And apparently, much of the album was recorded in two different small, early 19th century British, two story circular coastal tower forts with 8'
thick walls around Dublin that give a natural reverb sound. (Btw,It's worth googling "Martello Forts." And Colm's not joking when he says you can rent them via airbnb).

Btw Homeostasis, they talk about Michael Masley in the CoS one, and from what I gather, he didn't end up playing his large Hungarian hammer dulcimer we saw in yt videos. Instead, they mention some kind of gong he got unusual sounds out of, and an instrument I'd not heard of called a nyckelharpa that's apparently a violin-sized Swedish instrument with violin-like sounds he played on the album.
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Re: new INTERVIEWS w. Hope & Colm, 2016 [so far, FOUR]

Postby Hermesacat » Thu Nov 03, 2016 9:53 pm

There are four [later update: EIGHT] new Hope & Colm interviews posted above, so far.
I added my attempted English translation of Spanish language site's, Jenesaispop's article, plus the original Spanish text.

One of a number of interesting things we learn is Hope has done not just two collabs with Massive Attack but has written lots of songs with them, so many, she's lost count! It would be nice to see those get released someday soon.

Also, Rough Trade magazine's editor tweeted a photo today of pages from their own forthcoming Hope & Colm interview in Rough Trade mag no. 8, on sale tomorrow, Nov. 4 at their site, here:
https://www.roughtrade.com/rough-trade-magazine
[Image
[Btw, QUOTE: "The Warm Springs" -??]
Last edited by Hermesacat on Fri Aug 11, 2017 8:26 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: new INTERVIEWS w. Hope & Colm, 2016 [so far, SEVEN]

Postby alas » Mon Nov 07, 2016 3:19 am

I bought a CD from Michael Masley - titled Mystery Repeats Itself - circa 1995 when I heard him play in a university quad in Santa Barbara. The instrument -- a cymbalom? -- carried the sound so well that I literally stopped walking just to listen. (Had that, I don't care if I'm late, I'm listening to this for a few minutes feeling.)

The music on the CD doesn't quite capture the effect it had live, something about listening to music in the free breeze, I suppose. Still, it's great that someone else had that reaction and was in a position to hire him!
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Re: new INTERVIEWS w. Hope & Colm, 2016 [so far, SEVEN]

Postby Hermesacat » Mon Nov 07, 2016 10:05 pm

alas: Thanks for recounting your encountering Michael Masley playing in public years ago. The atmospheric sounds he contributes to he song "Into the Trees" add a lot, & make the song more "haunting" and mysterious sounding. Maybe he'll become an in-demand session musician and collaborator partly due to the HS&TWI association, and their singing his praises in interviews.
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Re: new INTERVIEWS w. Hope & Colm, 2016 [so far, EIGHT]

Postby Malavita » Wed Nov 09, 2016 6:32 pm

Not sure if this has been posted, just noticed it: http://www.refinery29.uk/mazzy-star-hop ... -interview
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Re: new INTERVIEWS w. Hope & Colm, 2016 [so far, EIGHT]

Postby Hermesacat » Wed Nov 09, 2016 10:08 pm

Thanks Malavita for citing the new Hope interview from Refinery 29. I found yahoo U.K.'s republished version of the same article this a.m. and posted the link to the the FB fan group earlier today.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/6071129794/
I'll add it to the list here now, and paste the text from it here. Was glad to see in it Hope suggest she no longer smokes (this bodes well for the future of her, her music, & singing)!
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Re: new INTERVIEWS w. Hope & Colm, 2016 [so far, ELEVEN]

Postby Hermesacat » Mon Nov 14, 2016 5:18 pm

RADIO INTERVIEW

Hope and Colm are scheduled to be interviewed on Irish radio (Dublin) this week. We should be able to listen to the interview via the radio station's website here: http://www.newstalk.com. The station also broadcasts on FM 106-108 for those in Dublin airwaves or cable range. Hope & Colm will be on The Tom Dunne show. Tom has a nightly radio show 22:00 to 23:59 (10pm to midnight), six days a week, Sunday to Friday. I asked him via Twitter ( @tomhappens ) what day he's interviewing them. He replied "I think it's Teusday evening" (i.e. Nov. 15). Luckily, the radio website archives all its shows, apparently for years, if not forever, so you can listen on demand via their "Listen Back" feature. So, if you miss the live broadcast, the show will remain available to listen to later.
Since I'm on the west coast of North America on Pacific Standard Time, I'll be listening to Tom Dunne's show here live 2pm to 4pm on Teusday, as PST is 8 hours behind Dublin time.

I learned about this upcoming radio interview from a tweet by Irish journalist Dave O'Grady ( @daveGildedALM ) who himself will also interview Hope & Colm this week for a print interview to be published in the Irish Times. I much enjoy reading interviews. But even better is to hear audio recordings of some too.

I was very pleased when I was able to obtain from the interviewer audio of a 50 minute 2013 Mazzy Star interview with Hope & David, which I upped to my second youtube Channel with kind permission of interviewer Sylvain Fesson. Up until then, the only interview recordings of Mazzy Star or Hope publicly available were all 20+ years old, and shorter in length. I'm grateful to Sylvain for that recording, which you can find on yt, and as a downloadable file in the Boots List here.

This is great there will be a Hope & Colm interview recording from 2016 now too! Hey, we can't hear Hope's delightful laugh and speaking voice in print. We need audio recordings to hear that!
Last edited by Hermesacat on Sat Nov 26, 2016 12:17 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: new INTERVIEWS w. Hope & Colm, 2016 [so far, ELEVEN]

Postby Emma » Tue Nov 15, 2016 8:57 pm

Hermesacat,

Thanks for collecting and translating all these interviews (including the French Nosey/Vice interview that went so bad!). I found interesting to learn how they recorded the album in the Martello Towers. This place looks amazing!

Hermesacat wrote: Hope and Colm are scheduled to be interviewed on Irish radio (Dublin) this week. We should be able to listen to the interview via the radio station's website here

Thanks for the headsup. I've noticed that there is a "Watch" icon on the upper right corner of the radio station's website to enable listeners to view the radio studio, including the radio host and his guests.
With some luck, Hope and Colm won't do the interview by phone and will come to the radio studio to answer the journalist's questions. In this case, we should be able to see them through the radio station's webcam.
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