Mojave 3 – Out of Tune

 

Mojave 3 – Out of Tune

By

Jesse E. Mullen

 

You’ve led a moderately successful cult band from Reading. You’ve had your sound compared to everything from Cocteau Twins to the Twin Peaks soundtrack. And then it all goes up in flames due to label woes.

So was the story of Slowdive in 1995. The seminal shoegazing band released what would eventually be hailed as a genre classic, Souvlaki in 1993. But by 1994, the group were having problems with their American label, SBK. In a rather controversial move, the label refused to fund the North American leg of the Souvlaki tour.

To make matters worse, while SBK weren’t giving Slowdive the financial backing they needed, they also refused to drop the group from their label roster. Slowdive were stuck in a contract which did not benefit them. They were forced to fund the tour out of pocket.

After the end of the tour, guitarist and songwriter Neil Halstead immersed himself in the burgeoning ambient/techno music scene. He started hanging out with Mark Van Hoen of Locust, as well as members of Seefeel in dingy electronic nightclubs. Halstead wanted to capture the sounds he heard.

He holed up in his London apartment and began demoing material which utilized loops, samples, and a lot of negative space. Many of these ideas would find their way onto Slowdive’s final album for 22 years, 1995’s Pygmalion.

The group also simultaneously recorded their first soundtrack album for the 1994 indie film I Am The Elephant, You Are The Mouse. They were also finally free of the pesky SBK contract. Things seemed to be looking up for the band, but they were only going to get worse.

Although Slowdive were finally free of SBK, they had not signed an American distribution deal for their new album. This left the album to be stranded in the UK, only seeing a very limited release by Creation Records in February 1995.

Because Creation were not receiving licensing money from an American label off Slowdive’s record, this made the band redundant in the label’s eyes. Consequently, Slowdive were dropped from their roster.

While it may have seemed like the end of the band, Slowdive opted to keep going – albeit in a slightly different configuration. Almost immediately after being dropped, bassist Nick Chaplin and guitarist Christian Savill left the group. This dwindled the lineup to Halstead, Vocalist Rachel Goswell, and drummer Ian McCutcheon.

At the same time, Halstead was looking to take his music in a new direction. While Pygmalion featured a few tracks with acoustic guitars and slow tempos, Halstead was inspired to move further down that path. The trio – still called Slowdive at the time – recorded a six-song demo tape in this new style.

Among the songs was the Lynchian “Love Songs on the Radio” featuring a slide guitar and Goswell’s most stunning vocal to date, “Sarah” which featured prominent use of piano and Halstead and Goswell’s ethereal harmonies, as well as “Candle Song 3” where Halstead displayed a newfound love for Leonard Cohen and Nick Drake.

Cassettes emblazed with the title “Slowdive Demo” were promptly shipped out to record labels in hopes of enticing their A&R departments. One of these tapes found their way into the hands of Ivo Watts-Russell. The 4AD founder had a reputation for cultivating a family atmosphere at his artist-centric label.

However, like Slowdive, his fortunes had turned sour recently. After letting go of his two pet projects Cocteau Twins and Red House Painters, he was looking for a new flagship band within the dreampop/slowcore genres. While Watts-Russell had received the demo tape, the stigma of being dropped by Creation made Slowdive a dying band in his eyes.

When he finally listened, however, he was blown away. He wanted to release the demo tape as an album, just as Red House Painters did with their debut Down Colorful Hill. But Goswell insisted that it wasn’t done, and an additional three songs were recorded with Simon Rowe on guitar.

The band also renamed themselves Mojave 3 around this time. A friend of theirs said the sound of the music evoked the vastness of the desert and that they should use “Mojave” as a band name. Because another band used the name Mojave, a “3” was added to their name.

The debut album, Ask Me Tomorrow, was released in October 1995. A mere eight months after releasing the final Slowdive album, Mojave 3 were able to realize their full artistic potential. The feat is even more impressive when taking the previous 18 months of struggle and hardship into account.

The genesis of Mojave 3’s second album – 1998’s Out of Tune – was much simpler. They came up with another batch of songs and recorded them with a growing confidence and fire. However, Neil Halstead also added Dylan to his pantheon of influences. This is immediately apparent on opener “Who Do You Love.”

Two strummed acoustic guitars and Halstead’s most nasal vocal to date introduce the track in modest fashion. When the chorus hits, however – with farfisa organ and trumpets – it is something new and exciting. Halstead manages to sound both cheerier and more energized than anything on the first album. But things only get better from here.

Like “Mercy” from the first album, “Give What You Take” calls back to the Slowdive sound of Souvlaki with dreamy harmonies and a churning, hypnotic repeating guitar figure. Better still, a pedal steel guitar is featured prominently, blending in Americana influences with their British folk.

On “Caught Beneath Your Heel,” Halstead arrives at a sound combining The American Analog Set with Spiritualized. A droning vox organ introduces the track along with gently strummed acoustic guitars. Halstead sings a tale of love gone wrong, as Goswell harmonizes and the track builds to a gospel crescendo.

Guest singer Lisa Millett takes a gorgeous scat solo in the middle of the track. Her vocals work gloriously against the backdrop of the music, and it feels like a moment that could’ve been on Spiritualized’s Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space album.

But perhaps “All Your Tears” is the best song of all. A minimalist affair blending “Vapour Trail”-esque acoustic guitars with gentle leads and electric piano, it is truly gorgeous. Vocally, Halstead is in full Dylan territory once again. When he sings “something changed, my friend” you can feel the presence of Robert Zimmerman in the air. If any song could evoke the feeling of a rainy, early fall day, it would be this one.

The 90s were a tremendous time of self-discovery and artistic exploration for Neil Halstead. He discovered a knack for ambient electronic, minimalist post-rock, and Nick Drake styled folk. But with Mojave 3, Halstead reached the pinnacle of artistic expression. While Ask Me Tomorrow has the better story, Out of Tune is an equally worthy successor.

4AD/1998