To recap: Neil Halstead, a founding member of Slowdive and the singer/main songwriter of Mojave 3, released his sophomore solo record Oh! Mighty Engine this past July on Jack Johnson’s Brushfire Records (the solo debut was on 4AD). The Emmett Malloy-directed video for Oh! Mighty‘s “Paint A Face” includes Halstead performing alone with his band or on-stage or on waves, looking Will Oldham-like throughout. When we posted “Paint A Face” in pure-audio form, I found his self-described “nylon rock” akin to “Kings of Convenience + Iron & Wine + Cornwall, England + a warm, slightly melancholic breeze.” At that time, I didn’t know the video version of the clip would, in fact, be shot in Cornwall or that Halstead would prove such a natural in his wetsuit.

Please note that our player now has an embed button, which means you can take this video to your own blog. You can take this MP3, too:

• Neil Halsted – “Paint A Face”Download

Oh! Mighty Engine is out via Brushfire. You can keep up with Halstead at his MySpace. Like, for instance, he’s out on tour:

11/06 – Chicago, IL @ Schubas Tavern
11/08 – Toronto, ON @ The Drake Hotel
11/10 – Hoboken, NJ @ Maxwell’s
11/11 – New York, NY @ The Mercury lounge (early show)
11/12 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music hall of Williamsburg #
11/17 – Vienna, VA @ Jammin’ Java
11/18 – Philadelphia, PA @ World cafe Live (early show)
11/20 – Atlanta, GA @ The Earl

# w/ Mark Kozelek