M. Ward - Migration Stories - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Several times, as I listened to M. Ward's Supernatural Thing, I asked myself what year it was. Was it 1952, and was I listening to a track from the Harry Smith Anthology? Was it 1972, and was I eavesdropping on the recording session for After the Gold Rush?No, it's 2023, and M. Ward is one of the special contemporary artists who invite such questions. Ward has clearly mastered the whole vocabulary of American popular music and made serious decisions about how to employ it for his own ends. What Ward shares with Harry Smith's artists and Neil Young is a context of musical and human values authenticity and intimacy. Supernatural Thing's original songs sound freshly pulled from the ground, with a little earth sticking to them. Ward's lyric delivery has that slight rawness the ear loves, and his voice has quiet dignity and great tenderness. Supernatural Thing is an open-hearted, inviting album.The album's guest stars - First Aid Kit, Shovels & Rope, Scott McMicken, Neko Case, Jim James, others - enliven the album with surprises. On Too Young to Die,Inch the women's voices in First Aid Kit spread a light frosting over the melody, and their Beach Boys-like chorus on InchEngine 5Inch makes the song sound like an instant hit. Eight of the album's ten songs are Ward originals. There's an unusual Bowie choice, InchI Can't Give Everything AwayInch from Blackstar, and a live rendition of Daniel Johnston's InchStory of an Artist.Inch-By James CushingBoth as a solo artist and as one-half of She & Him, M. Ward became one of the defining voices of the American indie landscape in the 2000s, earning fans and critical acclaim for his distinctive brand of breezy West Coast Americana which pulled from folk, country, blues, pop, and experimental indie rock elements. Ward established himself with warm, analog-minded releases like 2003's Transfiguration of Vincent and 2006's Post-War before

2016 album from the acclaimed singer/songwriter. M. Ward has released a string of acclaimed solo albums over the past several years, along with five LPs with Zooey Deschanel as She & Him and a 2009 collaborative album with My Morning Jacket's Jim James and Bright Eyes' Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis under the moniker Monsters of Folk. In addition to his celebrated work as a musician, Ward is an accomplished producer, handling those duties for such luminaries as Mavis Staples, Jenny Lewis, and Carlos Forster as well as his own musical projects. This album, Ward's eighth solo affair, finds the artist picking up the tempo and volume a bit from his previous , 2012's A Wasteland Companion. Where that record introspectively looked in from the outside, More Rain finds Ward on the inside, gazing out. Begun four years ago and imagined initially as a DIY doo-wop album that would feature Ward experimenting with layering his own voice, it soon branched out in different directions, a move that he credits largely to his collaborators here who include R.E.M.'s Peter Buck, Neko Case, K.D. Lang, The Secret Sisters, and Joey Spampinato of NRBQ. The result is a collection of upbeat, sonically ambitious yet canonically familiar songs that both propel Ward's reach and satisfy longtime fans. Album Tracks 1. [More Rain] 2. Pirate Dial 3. Time Won't Wait 4. Confession 5. I'm Listening (Child's Theme) 6. Girl from Conejo Valley 7. Slow Driving Man 8. You're So Good to Me 9. Temptation 10. Phenomenon 11. Little Baby 12. I'm Going Higher

MewithoutYou returns with their 5th studio album, TEN STORIES. Helmed by producer Daniel Smith (Sufjan Stevens) and mixed by Brad Wood (Smashing Pumpkins), TEN STORIES is an allegorical collection of songs that, at first listen, follows a winding narrative about a circus train crash in 19th century Montana. Long time fans will know that although we are introduced to a talking elephant, fox and tiger, there is always more then meets the eye. Album Tracks 1. February, 1878 2. Grist for the Malady Mill 3. East Enders Wives 4. Cardiff Giant 5. Elephant in the Dock 6. Aubergine 7. Fox's Dream of the Log Flume 8. Nine Stories 9. Fiji Mermaid 10. Bear's Vision of St. Agnes 11. All Circles