Artist Neil Halstead

• Website

  Neil Halstead

Formed out of the ashes of the beloved shoegaze outfit Slowdive, Mojave 3 turned its back on ambient guitar haze in favor of druggy, country-tinged dirges. Singer and chief songwriter Neil Halstead seems to edge out his bandmates a bit more with each successive album, and the group’s most recent release, 2006’s Puzzles Like You, is no exception, sounding not unlike Halstead’s terrific 2002 solo disc, Sleeping On Roads. No matter, though: Whomever he has with him, Halstead makes Americana better than most Americans, nodding to obvious influences like Neil Young and Nick Drake without aping them. He’ll be by himself here, but chances are good he’ll dip into Mojave 3 material plus songs from his 2008 album Oh! Mighty Engine.