As I was putting together posts to go along with the Mojave 3 reissues this Summer, I came across this video session that Neil Halstead did for French cinéma-vérité music documentarians La Blogothèque in June 2006 – a performance which isn’t listed on their website anymore, but still lives on their YouTube channel designated as their seventh-ever video session. Jambase lists the session date as June 3, 2006, but Blogothèque shows an Okkervil River performance was recorded that day and is designated as number 6. None of which really matters, but is interesting if you were wondering what Neil was doing two decades ago.

The timing of the session is interesting because it would have come right before the release of the final Mojave 3 record, Puzzles Like You, which would make sense for a little promotional work. But rather than play a song from the record, he performs “Trying To Reach You”, from Excuses For Travelers, and “HIgh Hopes” from his 2002 solo debut Sleeping On Roads. Of course, it may have just been those songs lent themselves best to the format of Neil singing from a Haussmann balcony and then hanging out in the garden.