April 8–15, 1999

disc quicks

Mojave 3

Out of Tune

(4AD/Sire)

Like Belle and Sebastian—whose fans would be well advised to plug the between-album gap with a copy of Out of Tune—Mojave 3 wear their influences on their sleeves. Nick Drake and Bob Dylan pop up on first listen, and further spins reveal snatches of Galaxie 500, Catherine Wheel, even a little Pink Floyd. But like B&S, this British quintet's music proves to be more than the hefty sum of its parts, a unique blend of folk simplicity and shoegazing space. The latter is no surprise—M3's Neil Halstead and Rachel Goswell used to head up veteran sneaker-lookers Slowdive—but the overwhelming (and at times undigested) Dylan influence comes as a bit of a shock. From the rolling Highway 61 organ on "Some Kinda Angel" to the Nashville Skyline pedal steel on "Give What You Take"- which laments, "I've been lookin' for a love/Pretty soon I guess I'll fuck things up"—Bob's trademark strum is all over Out of Tune, and one can only hope a head cold, and not blatant imitation, is behind Halstead's nasal whine on "To Whom Should I Write."

—Sam Adams

Mojave 3 will play with Gomez on Sun., April 11, 8 p.m., at the TLA, 334 South St., 215-336-2000.