Everyone knows Rachel Goswell from Slowdive. Some also know her from Mojave 3, her post-pre-Slowdive outfit with Neil Halstead. A few also know of her as a principal in indie-supergroup Minor Victories and also The Soft Cavalry, her project with husband Steve Clarke. But not many, it seems, know her as a solo artist, and that’s fair. Her recorded output under her own name amounts to two records released in 2004; a single EP, The Sleep Shelter EP, and album, Waves Are Universal. A 12″ of remixes arrived in 2005.

Goswell had sang lead alongside Halstead throughout Slowdive’s catalogue as well as early on in Mojave 3, but gradually stepped back to mainly sing harmonies. One exception was her lead turn on 2000’s Excuses For Travellers‘ “Bringin’ Me Home”, which was a standout on maybe the best album of their discography. Needless to say, fans hoped it was a sign of more to come.

She returned to harmonies on 2003’s Spoon and Rafter, but her own voice was front and centre the next year when long-gestating demos were finished and recorded. The Sleep Shelter came out in May, very much in the folkish, acoustic vein of Mojave 3 but balancing quieter, introspective songs with more upbeat numbers. The full-length Waves followed shortly afterwards and tilted more towards the pastoral side – those are bird songs in the background of “Gather Me Up” – and while numbers like “No Substitute” and “Coastline” did inject some grit into the recipe, I remember being a bit disappointed at how gentle the whole proceeding was. I can appreciate now that was me projecting my own wants onto the record and can enjoy it more, now, two decades later.

“Sleepless & Tooting” is one of two songs that appeared on both releases, and is a clear highlight of her solo oeuvre.

My recollection is that while the records came out on 4AD, Mojave 3’s label, they didn’t get a lot of promotion – no videos or touring; I can only find evidence of a few live solo shows in 2004, in the UK and Los Angeles. Happily, someone in Manchester had the foresight to record her whole set in November 2004, and upload the whole thing.

There’s also this video interview with Goswell from that era about Mojave 3 and her solo work, intercut with video of a live performance of indeterminate origin. It’s so interesting to hear her talk about where they were 20 years ago, clearly with no idea of how Slowdive would return and fate would turn in their favour some ways down the road.

And finally, in 2004 Penny Black Music ran a three–part interview with Goswell covering Slowdive, Mojave 3, and her solo work. There’s quite a lot of insight into the solo record in part three, including discussion about each song, and while “Sleepless” doesn’t get a lot of chatter, I enjoyed this excerpt:

PB: ‘Sticking with Grace’ ? That’s the one that sounds like Mojave 3.

RG: Neil and Ian (McCutcheon-Mojave 3 percussionist) really like that one. They were like “Yeah, that’s a really good one. Can we have it?” And I was like “No, you can’t” (Laughs).

Mojave 3 – Interview Part 3 @ Penny Black Music

So yes, Rachel Goswell solo music exists. Give it a spin.