WHILE he's not precisely sure how it happened, Neil Halstead has produced what is very probably Mojave 3's most sunny sounding album to date.

The band’s fifth outing, Puzzles Like You is awash with upbeat harmonies and a positivity only sporadically hinted at on previous recordings.

Perhaps their rejuvenated mood is down to laid back vibes and warmth of their base in Cornwall, or the knowledge they can now make records much more on their own terms.

Certainly the surprising jauntiness expressed on new single Breaking the Ice is some leap from the admittedly gorgeous introspection of their former guise as 90s shoegazers Slowdive.

"It’s definitely more up sounding than our previous albums, it just went in that direction as we were recording. I suppose we just wanted to do something a bit more fun and have enjoyed playing these songs live," explains Neil in his calm yet engaging manner.

As is often the way though, there were hiccups along the road to producing the finished goods. The old country barn they were recording in suffered an infestation of mice who made short work of areas of the studio.

Fortunately, most of their material remained in tact and a two-week stint of mixing in New York with Nick Cave’s producer Victor Van Vugt gave their recordings the required gloss.

They have already played a number of gigs this year around the country including summer festivals, and are about to hit the road again for a substantial autumn tour.

But sadly they will not be joined this time round by founder member Rachel Goswell, whose health has been suffering for some months.

"Rachel seems a lot better now but she has had an ear infection which damaged her inner ear. She didn’t think it would be a good idea to fly and could take about 18 months to sort itself out. She is in good spirits though."

Her distinctive bass playing and backing vocals will be sorely missed on the tour though it’s hard to imagine her not returning to the fray at some point. Especially in the wake of a well-received solo album, Waves are Universal, which earned her many new fans.

Events for Neil, now in his mid 30s, appear to be treating him well. He seems settled in the Newquay area with wife Genevra, a former journalist who runs a regional lifestyle magazine.

"I enjoy a surf when I can, I walk our three dogs, wash the dishes and roll up a cigarette," he says of events outside of music. It’s a mode of existence somewhat removed from his youth growing up in suburban Reading.

Though there can have been worse places to have spent ones formative years, there was little in the way of local major musical inspiration to look up to.

Much like any other teenage indie fan in the mid 80s, he gravitated to the sounds of The Smiths, whose music stood head and shoulders above almost everything else alternative at the time.

"I went to the same primary as Rachel, but it wasn’t until secondary school that we became friends. She was the school Goth and into the Sisters of Mercy.

"We both liked the Jesus and Mary Chain so connected on that level and started messing round with music, starting a band called the Pumpkin Fairies. We played some Velvet Undgeround, T-Rex and some pretty bad Simple Minds songs! It just carried on from there really."

With such dark-edged collective musical tastes, it was seemingly inevitable the band would exhibit an air of aloofness that contributed to journalists coining the shoegazing tag.

Deciding upon the moniker of Slowdive, they were spotted by Alan McGee of Creation records, who famously went on to capture the signatures of the delightfully in-your face, pre-Britpop Oasis.

His signing of Halstead and co in 1990 was cruelly described as the 'My Bloody Valentine' he could afford, yet with the benefit of hindsight they far from let him down.

Their swirling, ethereal guitar motifs inspired in part by the Cocteau Twins provoked excited mutterings within the media of 'sonic cathedrals' of sound and of a new indie dawn.

The buzz surrounding Thames Valley’s finest proved to be more than a mere flash-in the pan fad.

"McGee saw us play after we’d only done 3 or 4 gigs and we were still finding our feet, we really didn’t have many songs, but he phoned us up and said he liked the tape he had been given.

"We bluffed him a bit as we’d done the first couple of EPs and hadn’t much else so Just For A Day was pretty much written in the studio.

"It was great to be on Creation as we were huge fans of almost all the bands on the label. That time was great fun for us as we were friends with Chapterhouse who got a deal at pretty much the same time."

After the success of the first two EP’s which were bestowed with single of the week status in Melody Maker, there were high hopes for their debut album. Recorded in a frantic six week session, it garnered a large following and respectably made the top 40.

But critics were swift to begin a backlash against them and the cluster of groups they became associated with including Ride, the Telescopes and Lush, who were collectively dubbed the scene that celebrated itself due to their close relationships.

It wasn’t just writers who saw them as an easy target, some acts were equally scathing too. Richey Manic infamously railed against them claiming that the Welsh punk outfit 'hated the band more-than Hitler'.

Though Neil admits to being taken aback at the fickle barbs thrown their way by an initially responsive media, he’s stoical enough to accept that a healthy turnover of musical trends is perhaps what the business is all about.

"Just For a Day was my least favourite album though I do see why people like it. I think we recorded better than that with Souvlaki. I really think of Blue Day (early EP compilation) as our first album and I actually preferred Pygmalion because of its originality."

Undaunted by critical indifference to their LP, the band set out on ambitious US tours with first Blur, then labelmates Ride with whom they became firm friends.

Despite an exceptionally poor marketing campaign by their American label, SBK, they managed to gain a cult following in the states.

Though their second album demonstrated a greater maturity in terms of its songwriting, it failed to translate into the required commercial sales, narrowly missing the top 50.

The subsequent departure of drummer Simon Scott was also an unsettling chapter in their story, though he was eventually replaced by Ian McCutcheon who has been a fixture ever since.

But by the time the sparse, experimental third album Pygmalion stuttered into the marketplace in 1995, their momentum had all but run dry. As they freely acknowledge, the explosion of starkly contrasting Seattle grunge sound perhaps proved to be the ultimate death knell for bands of their ilk.

Rumours of internal unrest did little to ease their mood and few were surprised when they brought the curtain down on their time as Slowdive.

"I just think we’d had enough at that point, we had done it for six years and had done as much as we could with Pygmalion. You have to keep yourself interested though, which is why we came back with a sound that was more song based and had a different focus. We felt re-invigorated and excited about music again."

This was ably demonstrated with Mojave 3’s debut album for 4AD, Ask Me Tommorow, that bristled with the kind of luscious melodies traded in by respected American inde act Mazzy Star.

Its follow-up Out Of Tune in 1998 saw them return to favour with the media, touting upbeat singles such as Who Do You Love and the lilting country vibes of Some Kinda Angel.

With renewed confidence in their sails following their third album, Neil took time out to produce a solo record.

The result, Sleeping On Roads, was achieved at his recently adopted home in Cornwall. His delicate balladry ploughed similarly laid-back acoustic territory to that of Mojave, further cementing his position as an adept songwriter.

Rachel’s confidence was also growing to the extent that and both she and Ian began contributing songs to the band.

The positivity that surrounds their latest release is a testament to a group that has stood firm down the years. It may have been a rocky road at times, but one they are emerging from with a smile.

"I look back on what we did in the early days very fondly. We had a great time, made some music which was good, some not so good, played a lot of gigs and met a lot of people, it’s all cool. I meet people now who are just getting into Slowdive, which is great and can hear it in bands like Sigur Ros.

"We are enjoying what we are doing now with our shows and all feel we are lucky to be still doing this so far down the line and putting out records and have an audience."

Though many genres and sub-scenes have risen only to be swiftly felled since they first took the stage in Berkshire more-than 15 years ago, they’ve easily proved they were capable of sticking around for more than just a day...

Mojave 3 play the Pressure Point in Brighton on November 3 and Jazz Cafe in London on November 11.