Listen: Black Hearted Brother – 'I Don't Mean To Wonder'

Neil Halstead has cut a considered, economical dash across British music for more than two decades. With an output anchored in atmospheric wash – forged through walls of power chords and loop pedals as much as a soft-rip vocal – the former Slowdive and Mojave 3 man continues to push the boundaries of his talent.

Shacking up with Mark Van Hoen (Seefeel, Locust) and Nick Holten (Coley Park, Holton’s Opulent Ogg), Black Hearted Brother sees Halstead referencing the band that made his name synonymous with spaced out shoegaze.

Several years in the making, Stars Are Our Home - set for a 21 October release – is a record that’s very much coloured by all of its creators. Taster track ‘I Don’t Mean To Wonder’, which premièred over at SPIN yesterday, is flecked with the same sonic chunks that drove Slowdive’s later work (Pygmalion, Souvlaki), albeit with a deeper grunge melodic. Let’s call it recherché shoegaze, shall we? It’s also the closest thing we’ll get to a Slowdive reunion at this point in time.

Stars Are Our Home is release on 21 October via Sonic Cathedral. Listen to ’I Don’t Mean To Wonder’ below: