Mazzy Star's spacey fusion of old blues, creepy psychedelia and down-and-out country & western could've proved as unpleasant as the combined effects of cheap whiskey, magic-mushroom tea and black coffee. But the West Coast duo neutralized the weird mix into cool, laid-back ballads for their highly acclaimed 1990 debut, She Hangs Brightly. Mazzy's follow-up, So Tonight That I Might See, spaces...

Baby, I wish I was dead," sings Hope Sandoval on "Halah," the opening cut of Mazzy Star's coldly beautiful album She Hangs Brightly, and in her resignation she sounds almost elated. It's a line – and a moment – that perfectly embodies Mazzy Star's sinister charm.

Mazzy Star's mastermind, noted California songwriter and producer David Roback, a former member of the bands Rain Parade, Clay...