A puzzling ending for Mojave 3

In just 11 years, Mojave 3 managed to change their sound significantly through their discography, constantly going back to the concept of delicateness and melancholy in country-tinged music while flourishing in many musical styles. Their fifth and final album “Puzzles Like You” shows us they can have fun and be fast as well.

The album, as a whole, shows a version of Mojave 3 that isn’t afraid to explore their melancholic themes in songs that are directly more upbeat and pop-y. The most apt comparison I can think of in their work specifically is probably “Out of Tune,” but the main difference between the two albums is the lack of their musical style in the more upbeat tracks. The album focuses on being pop-y so much in sound that it almost takes away from their messages throughout the song.

One of the biggest examples is their first single “Breaking the Ice.” The song sounds like many upbeat guitar pop songs of the time, featuring more traditional upbeat guitar riffs and chords. Gone are the slow, dreamy sounds of the debut, replaced by an almost saccharine piano and guitar pop song in comparison. The song’s lyrics translate from previous albums though, with this one mourning a relationship doomed to fail and the singer wanting to start over. (“I know you wanna get away, I know nothing ever stays the same, Jenny, I've been thinking things over, You said thinking never got you far.”)

The title track fares a similar fate but still features touches of their musical style. The song still sounds saccharine but features some sounds that are distinctively Mojave 3, like a theremin-sounding noise almost a minute in. The song’s lyrics also have an “Excuses for Travellers”-esque feel to them but instead of stories about drifting off into a different realm, the lyrics themselves are drifting. (“Don't go with the weekend doubles, You know they don't like puzzles like you.”) All of this is to note that the band fit all of this into a short, clean under two-and-a-half-minute package for the listener.

The album still has moments that feel as delicate as older albums, though. The song “Most Days” features one of the more profound slow moments on the album, trying to mix the new sound of the obviously more pop-focused songs with the slow country they made in the past. The piano here is to die for, as it hasthe perfect timbre to elevate the country-tinged song and make it a unique gem in their later discography. They explore delicateness within the song by yearning and pining for someone specific, describing her in an almost fairytale-like manner with lyrics such as “She was a hummingbird song, She fluttered her wings but she would not come in.”

Before starting this series, I was always apprehensive on listening to this album specifically, because I made it out to be the black sheep of their career in my mind. On paper, it sounded like Mojave 3 was just trying to get some sort of pop or rock radio airplay before fizzling out entirely. After listening, I found that while it does sound distinctively milder and more pop-y than their previous efforts, the album still has merit.

After listening to all their albums, I would say that their discography is wonderful and not talked about enough. Even if you only wanted to listen because of wanting to know what members of Slowdive were doing while in their hiatus, I wholly recommend. Their music is some of the best and most unique dreamy and slow music I have listened to, and some of their music in my mind eclipses even the best and most popular Slowdive tracks. If you’re a fan of Mojave 3’s discography, I recommend listening to slower, moodier alt-country like the works of Songs: Ohia or listening to dreamy slowcore classics like the works of Galaxie 500.