The opening song on Mojave 3's debut clearly delineates the band's approach: acoustic song-writing and threadbare production with an unself- conscious aim at highly emotive, vaguely nostalgic melodies and lyrics. "Love Songs On The Radio," the opener, would sit nicely alongside the Cowboy Junkies and Mazzy Star.
Mojave 3 consists of two members of Slowdive, one of the definitive "shoe-gazing" bands that ruled British musical exports prior to the more recent Britpop craze. The atmospherics of Slowdive are somehow still present in Mojave 3, though now the feel is derived through entirely other means. Where Slowdive layered electric sounds, Mojave 3 limits itself to acoustic guitars, piano, and understated percussion.
The result is magnificent yet intimate. Sacrificing the splendor of a waterfall of distorted guitar, Neil Halstead and Rachel Goswell of Slowdive nonetheless conjure a powerful album of much more direct music on Ask Me Tomorrow. Of course, the very directness of the music can be unnerving, as the ambient cushion of white noise that buoyed Slowdive no longer diverts attention from the melodies and words of Mojave 3.
As the older generation of British bands seek to evolve, the "shoe- gazers" are faced with many paths. The Boo Radleys gained directness by working with tighter song structures and letting the melodies step out of the cacaphony stirred up by the guitars. Ride split up after reverting to hackneyed rock revivalism. Mojave 3 is a bold and successful move from the founders of Slowdive, and proves that their talents are versatile enough to shift instrumentation and production styles while continuing to make quality music.
