English songwriter and guitarist Neil Halstead made a name for himself in the early '90s as a founding member of the ambient pop band Slowdive, and later with his indie-folk trio Mojave 3. Eventually, he broke out on his own and found the perfect home at Brushfire Records, alongside artists like Jack Johnson and Mason Jennings.

"Mojave and Slowdive, you kind of get different things out of it," Halstead told Spinner. "With Slowdive it was just really loud guitars and had kind of a different feel being onstage, with that kind of noise."

On his latest solo release, 'Oh! Mighty Engine,' Halstead establishes his own unique voice as a songwriter -- but don't expect a carbon copy of all the other indie artists currently making noise on music blogs. "You know, stuff like MGMT I really love, but to be honest, I"m not really ... I don't really follow the kind of new music too much," he insists. "For me, you just kind of do the music that you're into and if people like it, they like it." And we think you will.

Check Neil Halstead's studio performance and full interview on the Interface after the jump. Subscribe to the Interface podcast for Neil Halstead's entire live performance and interview. Video podcast requires iTunes 6 or higher and MP3 podcast is audio only.

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Buy 'Oh! Mighty Engine' on iTunes

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