Neil Halstead
Sleeping on Roads
4AD Records/Beggars Group
The first solo album from Neil Halstead, former frontman of the pioneering shoegazer group Slowdive, proves as steeped in musical tradition as the recent records of his current country-folk revival band, Mojave 3. While
Sleeping in Roads' trumpets, banjos, and dobros are sure to invite the same Dylan and Byrds references which haunt Mojave 3's corpus, Halstead's songs largely eschew Mojave 3's sweeping expanses, tending instead towards the intimate melancholy of Nick Drake's minimalist folk, with occasional digressions into sleepy, sun-dappled guitar- and keyboard-laden grooves. Halstead won't win any medals for innovation, but his delicate, beautifully crafted folk-pop makes for some very satisfying listening.
Jesse Ashlock
last updated:
04/05/02
