Mazzy Star: Wide-Ranging Explorations

Concert preview

Mazzy Star and Acetone, 8 p.m. Tuesday, Moore Theatre; $10.77; 628-0888. -----------------------------------------------------------------

Mazzy Star approaches its music the way a medieval architect might have approached designing a cathedral.

Here, a sumptuous layering of elements would be appropriate, while another section would benefit from an airy quality. A reference to a period long gone might be coupled with a design of timeless quality. The effect is one of complete immersion.

Mazzy Star's broad and subtle explorations within the genres of blues, folk, rock and psychedelia produce just such an absorption on its two albums, "She Hangs Brightly" and last year's "So Tonight That I Might See." From the rich, reverberant layering of "Halah" to the ethereal folk of "Ride It On" to the country-tinged "Fade Into You," Hope Sandoval's soured-innocence vocals and David Roback's guitar orchestrations create a mood like a sad, but pleasantly remembered, dream.

While Sandoval and Roback form the core of Mazzy Star, they record and perform with a stable group of musicians, including keyboards, bass, guitar, drums and the occasional cello. The extended band is essential to the execution of the music, Roback said. "Once Hope and I have a song, we get together with people in the band; each song's a little different, and we experiment. A lot of times it comes together the first time we play it with people."

Mazzy Star formed in the late '80s after the demise of Roback's previous band, Opal. That band wrote in a stricter psychedelic vein and received above-ground attention for such eerie introspections as the album "Happy Nightmare, Baby." Roback met Sandoval when he produced an album by Sandoval's acoustic band, Going Home. "Opal was a different band, and Hope and I wanted to start over," he said.

In 1990 the band released "She Hangs Brightly" - named after the Opal-esque centerpiece song - to a froth of critical praise. The attention revived when the band moved from independent label Rough Trade to the giant Capitol and re-released that album the following year. The next two years passed in near-seclusion, writing songs and lyrics, Roback said. "We took some time off to experiment with different ideas."

The heavier blues emphasis of "So That Tonight I Might See" grew naturally from seeds within the group's style, Roback said. "It's not like we set off to change what we were doing; it's just what we were into doing this time," he explained. Of the music's organic feel, Roback said, "I think we tend to favor acoustic instruments and tube amplifiers."

Often the songs take on a cloistered feel unique to careful studio arranging. As far as Roback is concerned, playing live is nothing more than letting several hundred people into the studio to watch. "The music has always been our head," he said. "We do what we've always done and project it into a large room."

Opening is the young band Acetone, a sonic equivalent of Mazzy Star. Their allegiance to older instruments and analog recording permeates their debut album, "Cindy," with a warm, back-porch feeling.