A Love for Side Projects

“When creative direction goes a different way”

When delving into a band’s discography it is a great delight to find other music they’ve made under different names. Exploring side projects is like learning the band’s best kept secret and sharing it with all of your friends. So now I’d like to talk about some of my favorite side projects from artists I like!

Mojave 3

A side project from Slowdive – surely one of the most celebrated and beloved shoegaze bands of all time. This band is a project from Rachel Goswell and Neil Halstead, including Ian McCutcheon on drums. Through their tone, the trio keeps a Slowdive influence while including more of a folk style to their music. They harbor more on their acoustics than their ambience here, making the band very distinct from Slowdive. Their production is reminiscent of Souvlaki era Slowdive, especially similar to slower tracks like “Dagger”. 

Sweetback

Best put it’s but Sade without her singing. Many don’t know but Sade is a band with Sade Adu as its singer. The remaining members, Stuart Matthewman, Paul Denman, and Andrew Hale are the musicians and they create excellent R&B/Soul tracks under Sweetback while featuring additional singers and rappers in their music. These guys came together when Adu went on hiatus post Love Deluxe and pre Lovers Rock. I’m a huge Sade fan and Sweetback was so fun to get into. It’s interesting to see their progression of music while Sade took a break.

Fleshwater

The trajectory of Fleshwater fans learning it’s a side project is always a fun sight. The band began as Vein.fm including the exact same lineup but missing Marisa Shirar singing. Fleshwater has the feel of a modern shoegaze band but replaces sadder ambience with fast paced guitars and occasional scream vocals. Looking at the original, Vein.fm takes a metalcore approach to Fleshwater’s style and serves as an amazing precursor. These guys were around long before Fleshwater became a staple in the current alternative scene and if you’re more into the hard rock aspects of the band I absolutely recommend Vein.fm.