From Amazon.co.uk
While
Sleeping On Roads is ostensibly Mojave 3 main man Neil Halstead's debut solo album, there is little to suggest that the singer needed this project, as an excuse to express any previously hidden, musical diversions. Essentially, a pared-down Mojave 3 album,
Sleeping On Roads is soaked in the same kind of downbeat whimsy and lovelorn melancholia that
Mojave 3 have perfected so well over the course of their three albums. Musically, Halstead has made no bones about his
Nick Drake fixation, and so his songs continue to evoke pastoral, dreamy days with gently plucked strings and a voice fragile enough to sound delicately endearing. Horns tremulously sound, occasional a piano tinkles, and Halstead sings gorgeous sad songs, which never fail to emit a slow-burning warmth and grace. "Hi-Lo and In between" is one of the simplest and most affecting songs he's written, and the homespun title track, replete with banjo and slide guitar, is a delightful slice of Americana.
High Hopes closes the album with Halstead softly strumming an acoustic guitar and opining "You were beautiful enough to make me stay". No musical frontiers shattered or new ground broken then, but really, you wouldn't want it any other way.--
Suzannah Brown