Neil Halstead

Neil Halstead
Neil Halstead performing at The Faversham, Leeds on 22 September 2008.
Background information
Born	(1970-10-07) 7 October 1970 Reading, Berkshire, England
Genres	Alternative rock, indie rock, shoegazing, dream pop, folk
Occupation(s)	Musician, singer-songwriter, record producer
Instruments	Vocals, guitar
Associated acts	Slowdive, Mojave 3, Black Hearted Brother

Neil Halstead (born 7 October 1970) is an English musician born in Reading, Berkshire, England. He's been hailed by AllMusic as “one of Britain’s most respected songwriters,” and Timeout magazine as “one of Britain's greatest songwriters”. Neil Halstead has earned an ardent following by making intensely atmospheric music with a near-hypnotic power. The singer/guitarist served as frontman and primary songwriter for Slowdive (the legendary shoegaze outfit whose seminal studio albums include 1993’s Souvlaki, (co-produced by Brian Eno). After its 1995 breakup, Slowdive morphed into the Halstead-helmed Mojave 3 and released a string of highly celebrated records that merged jangly alt-country with dusky psychedelic dream-pop. In 2006 Mojave 3 went on indefinite hiatus, prompting Halstead to embark on an acoustic-driven solo career marked by an emphasis on British-folk-inspired melody and a love of surfing . An occasional drift into more whimsical territory prompted NME to rave ‘like Syd Barrett if he’d ever set foot on a surf board’. Halstead's first solo album Sleeping on Roads was followed by 2008’s Oh! Mighty Engine, released on friend and fellow surfer Jack Johnson‘s ''Brushfire'' label. Halstead's latest album Palindrome Hunches was released in 2012 and was labelled as “An exquisite set of dark folk music” from The Times as well as being well acclaimed by God is in the TV , "Undoubtedly one of the finest British records released this year” ^[1]

Halstead has spent much of 2014 touring with the newly reformed Slowdive.

Halstead is now based in Newquay, Cornwall.

Solo discography

Albums

Sleeping on Roads
Studio album by Neil Halstead
Released	2002
Length	48:19
Label	4AD

• Sleeping on Roads (2002, 4AD)^[2][3][4]
  1. Seasons – 5:23
  2. Two Stones in My Pocket – 4:27
  3. Driving With Bert – 6:17
  4. Hi-Lo and in Between – 4:47
  5. See You on Rooftops – 6:34
  6. Martha's Mantra (For the Pain) – 5:11
  7. Sleeping on Roads – 4:17
  8. Dreamed I Saw Soldiers – 6:20
  9. High Hopes – 5:03^[3][4]
• Oh! Mighty Engine (2008, Brushfire)
  1. Oh! Mighty Engine
  2. Elvenses
  3. Little Twig
  4. Witless or Wise
  5. Paint A Face
  6. Always The Good
  7. No Mercy For The Muse
  8. Sometimes The Wheels
  9. Queen Bee
  10. Spinning For Spoonie
  11. A Gentle Heart
  12. Baby, I Grew You A Beard
• Palindrome Hunches (2012, Brushfire)
  1. Digging Shelters
  2. Bad Drugs and Minor Chords
  3. Wittgenstein's Arm
  4. Spin The Bottle
  5. Tied To You
  6. Love Is a Beast
  7. Palindrome Hunches
  8. Full Moon Rising
  9. Sandy
  10. Hey Daydreamer
  11. Loose Change

Other work

• Alcest's Shelter (song 7 - Away)

Equipment

A detailed gear diagram of Neil Halstead's 1993 Slowdive guitar rig is well-documented.^[5]

References