Cousteau returned in July 2002 with the luxurious, no less ambitious Sirena and geared up for more touring. Davey Ray Moor surprised the group at the end of its American tour in Boston by declaring his intentions to pursue his own work. After meeting with the remaining members, Liam McKahey, despite being a songwriting novice, took it upon himself to fill the compositional hole left by longtime bandleader Moor, and the group, joined by keyboard player Dan Moore, returned to the studio to record its third full-length album, Nova Scotia, for Endeavor Records. The record was released in the U.K. in 2005, but a myriad of legal technicalities prevented the group from retaining its longtime moniker. In 2006, Nova Scotia, by the newly minted Moreau, arrived nationally on Ten Little Indian Records.
A year before, Moor had issued his solo debut Telepathy, and McKahey too was pursuing a side project leading to the split of Cousteau. McKahey issued solo recordings (Lonely Road, 2009 and Black Vinyl Heart, 2014). In August of 2016 he and Moor announced the re-formation of Cousteau as CousteauX (they are the sole remaining members) asking fans to regard the extra character in the name "as a kiss ... and a scar." Its pronunciation is silent so the band’s name sounds the same. Their self-titled debut under the new moniker was issued in the fall of 2017. ~ Johnny Loftus, Rovi