Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions: Bavarian Fruit Bread

By RUSSELL BAILLIE

(Herald rating: * * * )

A lot of us fell in love with Hope Sandoval - well her voice anyway - when she was the singer with Mazzy Star, those late 80s/early 90s US West Coast exponents of deeply drowsy, tumbleweed-gothic which lasted all of two albums.

Since then she's been heard in the company of everyone from the Jesus and Mary Chain (whose William Reid is a co-writer on Drop, the lead track here) to the Chemical Brothers. And here, while she has new backers in the Warm Inventions - which include everyone from revered Scottish acoustic guitarist Bert Jansch to My Bloody Valentine's Colm O'Ciosoig - this album doesn't exactly ask: Do you like my new direction?

No, it might as well be the third Mazzy Star album, which isn't a bad thing. While it sustains a bittersweet dreaminess throughout, some of the songs actually cut through the ethereal fog. Best of those include Suzanne (not the Leonard Cohen tune, but not that far off), the Jansch-fingerpicked Butterfly Mornings and the woozy Charlotte.

It's as likeable, if forgettable, as an afternoon nap. Take only with the usual precautions about using heavy machinery and driving.

Label: Rough Trade