Dorian Lynskey:

You might think that a band letting 17 years elapse between their third and fourth albums was unusual. You might therefore assume that there was an interesting reason for such a hiatus. You might even, recklessly, suppose that they could be pleased to be back. All these thoughts seem reasonable, until you try speaking to Mazzy Star about their new record, Seasons of Your Day.

…There is, I suppose, something impressive about the duo’s unwavering purist militancy – their apathy, bordering on revulsion, towards everything to do with music beyond the act of making it. After a miserable hour for all three of us, I’m no longer surprised that they took 17 years to release Seasons of Your Day; I’m amazed they released it at all. Do they even care if anybody beyond their close friends hears their music?

“Maybe, for musicians, it’s common to release things more frequently than we do,” says Roback. “[We’re] like other types of artist. They make their sculpture or painting, they write books or poems, and whether they have an exhibition is almost irrelevant.”

Is this a difficult line of work for such reticent people? Pause. “Only when shyness is misinterpreted as arrogance,” says Roback. Does that happen in their case? Pause. “I don’t really know.” Of course not.

I love me some Mazzy Star in any event, but in this social media fishbowl, where needy oversharing is like the water you swim in, I’m particularly delighted by such passive resistance. Reminds me of another favorite artist, Mark Sandman.