My review: Moon Cowboy and Krissy Vanderwoude / surfboards and desert storms - the Mojave 3 covers

 Moon Cowboy and Krissy Vanderwoude /  surfboards and desert storms – the Mojave 3 covers 

Review by

Alex Dematteis 

Musicshockworld 

Salford

21 October 2026

When different enchantments come together on a stave, it can happen that the emotion and the joy become a perpetual sigh, with the shutters of the soul letting light into the heart…

Mojave 3, Moon Cowboy and Krissy Vanderwoude are the protagonists of all this: an EP due out on Friday that brings together entities, magical figures and credible stand-outs to open circles, riding the idyll of real and hypothetical encounters, with three tracks written in the 1990s, each very different from the others, capable of making us imagine the vastness of the sky through the lens of Neil Halstead’s band, Rachel Goswell, Ian McCutcheon, Simon Rowe and Alan Forrester.

Three gems that have remained untouched by the interpretation, by the need to add further hands and vocal cords, managing to prolong the ecstasy and fidelity, all seasoned with a heartfelt process of genuine respect. The chosen songs also highlight the scope of Ricardo Fiel’s talent; he is completely at ease, keen to continue his own distinct artistic journey, one characterised by style, identity and recognisability. We find that the sacredness of the original versions remains intact, yet with a touch of more subtle, almost veiled colours, so as not to convey any arrogance, conceit or other such nonsense.

No, here we witness a moment of stillness, a near-silence, soft shoegaze expressions that convey feelings and expansiveness, as if those ‘old’ songs could sustain a new youthfulness. Above all, these new versions have the ability to stand alongside the originals without fear of negative judgement.

Ricardo and Krissy spread their wings, leaving their mark and their individual characteristics on a canvas that shows how something perfect can have its own evolution, without detracting from anything. It happens rarely, and when it does in this way, one can hail it as a miracle, embrace the joy and let it settle within these grooves, without shame. 

The voices are more subdued, hushed, yet the dynamics are impeccably crafted to convey not timidity but a fluid resolve – a cycle of impulses governed by sound, which proves to be more expansive. The musical language of this album fosters a sense of calm; the rich musical foundation welcomes the vocals with a smile, embracing them, whilst an emotional wave captures their delicacy and elevates it to a state of supremacy. Mojave 3’s blend of folk, alternative country and slow-paced dream pop is transformed into a celestial stroll, a journey back in time, as if these compositions hailed from the nineteenth century, with a subtle yet decisive reworking. Krissy pierces the clouds from afar, sips at her shyness before unleashing her inner drive, within which lie devotion and gratitude for this project and for her previous work under the name Slowdive. She wraps a scarf around her voice and listening becomes a tear, a vibration, a bow to her ever-evident desire not to take centre stage or prove anything in particular: when she opens her mouth, what emerges are beats, caresses, dreams transformed into sound that teach us to listen with due attention, as we feel all her joy, maturity and a long list of talents. She returns after a long absence and has found in Ricardo a seafront where she can let her fears drift out to sea, rediscovering her self-confidence. A duo that began (I would say very humbly) not from within themselves but from ambition, from putting themselves to the test, from experimenting with a working process that could easily have caused them to run aground.

Yet here they are: light, dense, oxygen-rich gills that lend their own class, allowing us, amongst other things, to savour once more the dangerous game of comparisons. It’s a shame for the incompetent: in the end, we find ourselves with six songs, six stories, tales, vastnesses with distinct identities, gathered round a glass of wine, laughing and embracing one another first…

The talent of these two artists – physically distant yet adept at bridging that gap – brings us back to considering what a true artistic journey really is: rules, commitment, identifying the necessary distinctions, choosing the means and methods, to bring it all together in a space that becomes precious, useful and unassailable.

The selected tracks offer, on the one hand (when listening to the originals), the certainty that time does not defeat beauty and validity, and, on the other (with the versions presented under the title ‘Moon Cowboy’), the assurance that there exists a time and place where dreams, instincts and the need to test oneself can lead to risk, to the danger of failure, yet ultimately triumph…

Those among the shoegaze faithful who turned up their noses at the obvious shift in direction taken by those members of Slowdive will now have the audacity to think that this is exactly how they should have sounded. But (and I’m sure this is the majority) those who applauded that stylistic shift back then will do the same today for this release: a unique pairing, with a different appearance, yet deliberately capable of speaking the same language – that of nourishment for the soul…

All you have to do is put any comparisons to one side and observe, instead, how one perfect picture can give rise to another…

The EP will be realised on Friday 23 October on Bandcamp