Like two strangers/
Turning into dust.

Hope Sandoval and Mazzy Star have a very distinctive sound as displayed in “Into Dust”. It is depressing, mopey, lingering and introspective. I mean that in the best possible way. Their sound seems to be achieved through the use of echo, coupled with acoustic guitar, strings and Sandoval’s vocals.

A lot of bands use those same tools, but none create the unique sound that is Mazzy Star. There are not many singers who could hold our attention with a song that proceeds at this slow of a pace, yet we are enthralled.

Mazzy Star’s “Into Dust” is a song about the death of a relationship. Sandoval likens it to an actual death. It can feel that way at times; that is the appeal of the song. Is the death of a relationship so much different than the death of an individual? In both cases an entity is destroyed forever. (Of course, one is more final than the other, but why split hairs?). Mazzy Star can really set a mood and is one of the more underrated bands of the 90s.

Into Dust Lyrics & Meaning

Still falling, breathless and on again.
Inside today, beside me today.
Around, broken in two,
Till your eyes shed into dust.
Like two strangers turning into dust,
Till my hand shook with the weight of fear.

I could possibly be fading,
Or have something more to gain.
I could feel myself growing colder,
I could feel myself under your fate,
Under your fate.

It was you, breathless and torn,
I could feel my eyes turning into dust.
And two strangers turning into dust,
Turning into dust.

Written by David Roback/ Hope Sandoval