M. Ward hasn't put out a solo album since 2009's underwhelming Hold Time, instead making time with Ben Gibbard's favorite girl, Zooey Deschanel, playing backup to her nasally, irritating warble. I don't know if he finally got tired of playing second fiddle or whether he's tapped that well dry but he's about to release a brand new solo album that, thankfully, only features Deschanel on one song. Titled A Wasteland Companion, the 12-track LP features a host of other guest performances by the Portland singer-songwriter’s talented friends, including John Parish, longtime collaborator/Monsters of Folk bandmate Mike Mogis, Sonic Youth’s Steve Shelley, and recent tourmate Howe Gelb. It's a return to form for M. Ward, similar in strength to 2006's Post War, but not quite reaching the heights of, what I consider his masterpiece, Transistor Radio.
Track #2 is the lead-off single that's been making the rounds on college radio, Primitive Girl. It features the double-tracked, processed M. Ward vocals featured prominently on Hold Time and over-production with backing vocals that I'm not terribly fond of.
Track #3, Me and My Shadow, starts off strong but then devolves quickly. Track #4, Sweetheart, features the erstwhile Mrs. Gibbard and that's all I'll say about that.
Skipping ahead to Track #6, The First Time I Ran Away, we find another great song. We return to the soft-spoken vocals, but now with a bit more in the way of backing instrumentation and vocals. A lovely song.
Next we have the title track, A Wasteland Companion, which starts out a straight-up blues affair which shifts to a atmospheric guitar instrumental half-way through. My second favorite of the album.
The next four tracks are middling efforts, with a low point at Crawl After You, my least favorite of the album. This is quickly followed, however, with the closing track, and my favorite of the album, Pure Joy. Great strummed guitar with a lovely chorus with backing vocals and a walking bass-line. Fantastic.
This is a short album, clocking in at a paltry 36 minutes total, with the longest song being only 3:42 and the majority being under 3 minutes. Clearly quantity is not a reflection of quality, however, as this is a great album, overall. 8/10
I'll leave you with a solo performance of Chinese Translation from Hold Time. More of this, please.
For fans of: Josh Ritter, Ryan Adams, Bon Iver, Joe Pug
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