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Out Of Tune
01/12/1999 3:00 AM, Yahoo! Music
Ken Micallef
How many of us have shared the following sentiment, penned so succinctly by Mojave 3's Neil Halstead? "I've been looking for a love, pretty soon I guess I'll f--- things up." Halstead and Mojave 3 carry the universal torch for all sad sacks and miserable loners out there in the world; the quartet's spare, eloquent, and often majestically beautiful songs coming from a well of resigned heartache. Lovers come, lovers go, where they end up, nobody knows. But even in his solitude, Halstead manages to make misery sound like a worthy, hallowed thing. The preceding lyric comes from Out Of Tune's most cerebral and winning song, "Give What You Take." Like a magical meeting between After The Goldrush and Bookends-era Simon & Garfunkel, the song's expansive vista of mournful steel guitar, lightly chugging horns, and lovely vocal harmonies is pure, elegant magic. If Halstead never wrote another song, this would mark him as a rare talent. Halstead seems to sing in guises, as in the Dylan-ish tones of "To Whom Should I Write," and the solemn Nick Drake glow of "All Your Tears." The rest of Out Of Tune never quite matches the beauty of "Give What You Take," but it aims high. B.J. Cole's ghostly, moving steel guitar lifts "To Whom Should I Write" to grandiose proportions; "Who Do You Love" could be a lost Jimmy Webb nugget. Shoegazing songs for messed-up mopey singles? Mojave 3 has got it covered.
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