Mojave 3

After Slowdive

Mojave 3 began in 1995, the year given by Wikipedia (MusicBrainz says 1994), after Creation Records dropped Slowdive. Neil Halstead wrote acoustic songs during Slowdive's Pygmalion sessions, and six demos on cassette reached 4AD's founder Ivo Watts-Russell, who wanted to release them as they were; Rachel Goswell pushed for more recording, and three more songs were cut at Blackwing Studios with Simon Rowe. The name was Mojave first, and a band of that name already existed, so a 3 was added for three members, per Wikipedia and First Revival; Encyclopedia.com instead says the name came from the desert where Gram Parsons died. Alan Forrester and Rowe, formerly of Chapterhouse, joined after the first album, and the band lived together in a Cornwall farmhouse and converted a barn into a studio.

Ask Me Tomorrow (October 16, 1995, 4AD) was followed by Out of Tune (October 5, 1998), Excuses for Travellers (May 15, 2000), Spoon and Rafter (September 22, 2003) and Puzzles Like You (June 19, 2006). Halstead made solo records, Sleeping on Roads (2001), Oh! Mighty Engine (2008) and Palindrome Hunches (2012), and Goswell made Waves Are Universal (2004). Goswell stopped touring with the band in 2006 and contributed backing vocals only to Puzzles Like You. Halstead said in 2008 the band was on hiatus; they returned to live performance in 2011 and the last show on setlist.fm was at Backstage Live in Hong Kong on August 29, 2013. Slowdive reunited in 2014. Songs from Spoon and Rafter were used in The O.C., and "Bluebird of Happiness" in Big Little Lies. Babehoven and Squirrel Flower covered "My Life in Art" in 2025.

4AD reissued all five albums as remastered releases on July 24, 2026, with remastering at Abbey Road per Tracking Angle, and PopMatters scored the box set 7 of 10.