Among My Swan

Among My Swan is the third studio album by American band Mazzy Star, released on October 29, 1996. Although Among My Swan did not contain any US Billboard Hot 100 hits like its predecessor, So Tonight That I Might See, this album garnered the band its highest-ranking single on the UK Singles Chart, when "Flowers in December" reached No. 40 in November 1996.

While the production of Among My Swan relies less on reverb than the group's previous albums, the music is not markedly different (as evidenced by tracks like "I've Been Let Down", on which Hope Sandoval sings over simple acoustic guitar and harmonica accompaniment).

"Flowers in December", "Disappear", "Happy" and "I've Been Let Down" were all released as singles from the album. Following the release of "I've Been Let Down" in 1997, Mazzy Star went on hiatus, and did not release new music until the single "Common Burn"/"Lay Myself Down" in 2011.

Release and promotion
The band opted to eschew mainstream promotion for the record, with Capitol Records taking what they described as a "long-term approach" towards its marketing. An outtake from the album, "Tell Me Now", appeared on the soundtrack to Batman Forever in 1995, while album track "Rhymes of an Hour" featured on the soundtrack to Stealing Beauty prior to the album's release. A senior marketing director at Capitol called Mazzy Star "the quintessential artist-development band. David and Hope are artists. Every album they make is a work of art"; Billboard noted that both films "nicely bookend Mazzy Star's demographic, with Batman Forever appealing to the collegiate crowd and the critically acclaimed, art-house Stealing Beauty skewing toward the band's baby boomer fans."

Music stores were given advance copies of the album from early September; the label conducted a contest where the store which best promoted the album would be rewarded with a live performance from the band. The entire album was serviced to college radio on October 7, and lead single "Flowers in December" was issued to Alternative and Triple-A stations the following week. The duo appeared on the October 1996 cover of Alternative Press, and a music video for "Flowers in December" was completed that same month. The song remains the duo's only song to enter the top forty of the UK Singles Chart. "I've Been Let Down" was scheduled to be issued as the album's second commercial single in the spring of 1997, but was released solely as a limited edition 7" vinyl in October 1996 as a double A-side with album track "Roseblood".

Commercial performance
The album peaked at number 67 on the Billboard 200. As of 2001, it has sold over 214,000 copies in the United States.

Musicians

 * David Roback – guitars, keyboard, songwriter, producer, audio engineering, album design
 * Hope Sandoval – vocals, harmonica, percussion, songwriter, co-producer, album design
 * William Cooper – strings, audio engineering
 * Jill Emery – bass
 * Keith Mitchell – drums
 * William Reid – additional guitar on "Take Everything"
 * Aaron Sherer – drums on "Take Everything" and "Still Cold"

Production

 * Beth Herschaft – photography
 * Eddy Schreyer – mastering
 * Dale Everingham – engineer
 * Tom Cashen – production crew

Usage in media
"Happy", "All Your Sisters", and "Look on Down from the Bridge" are featured in the 2005 film Down in the Valley.

"Look on Down from the Bridge" is featured during a funeral scene and over the end credits of the 1999 The Sopranos episode "Meadowlands", in the 2011 film Texas Killing Fields, and in two episodes of Rick and Morty, including the 2014 episode "Rick Potion No. 9" when the title characters bury their dead alternate-reality selves and the 2023 episode "Unmortricken" which includes a callback to the original scene.