mojave3online.com

(thanks to Jeremy for typing this review out):

CMJ New Music Monthly September 2003, Page 53

Mojave 3 - Spoon And Rafter

Like awkward teenagers growing into their looks, Mojave 3 realize their
artistic ambitions with stronger songwriting and greater musical focus
with each successive album. As members of Slowdive, they mastered the art of
the haze: slippery, gorgeous yet formless instrumental passages where the
song was nearly lost. For Mojave 3 album number four, singer/songwriter Neil
Halstead capitalizes on the progress he made with the band’s 2000
release Excuses for Travellers and his solo album, last year’s Sleeping On
Roads, where he tapped his Nick Drake and Damien Jurado fascinations for the
perfect confluence of sturdy melody and somber tidings. With the group
in tow–Alan Forrester’s keyboards particularly color this world–Halstead
works the band’s yin-yang to his advantage, casting himself as a
’shoegazer cowboy’ singing from the lunar desert. The group’s heavy
atmospherics–echoed guitar tones, distant keyboard lines–create epic
grandeur througout. “Battle Of Broken Hearts” is a six-minute-plus
orchestral tug of war that resolves into the relatively direct piano
balad “Hard To Miss You.” “Writing To St. Peter” recalls a lonely Western
vibe via satellite transmission (Arizona to London, perhaps), with Halstead’s
remorseful voice sounding distracted, like someone whispering deep
secrets to the insecurity of a cellphone, proving that no matter the technology,
the emotions are still the same.

written by : Rob O’Connor