Music Blog

M. Ward's return to the solo life is imminent-- that's music we're talking not romance. The Portland singer-songwriter has spent much of the three years since his last release collaborating as part of both a pair (She & Him) and a group (Monsters of Folk), but he'll be back to his old self soon with the April 10th release of A Wasteland Companion via Merge (and we can't tell you how much more excited we are for that title than if it were called A Heartland Companion).

It's said to be a travelogue of sorts and the facts are these: 12 songs, 18 musicians, 8 studios, 8 engineers. Among that personnel are names like Howe Gelb, Mike Mogis, John Parish, Tom Hagerman, Steve Shelley, Mike Coykendall, Tyler Tornfelt and Adam Selzer, among others. The release marks Ward's sixth solo effort overall, and follows up 2009's excellent Hold Time. For now, you can head over to his website for a quick sample of the record playing on a loop and glean what you can from the tracklisting:

1. Clean Slate (for Alex & El Goodo)
2. Primitive Girl
3. Me And My Shadow
4. Sweetheart
5. I Get Ideas
6. The First Time I Ran Away
7. A Wasteland Companion
8. Watch The Show
9. There’s A Key
10. Crawl After You
11. Wild Goose
12. Pure Joy

While it doesn't appear there are any Portland shows scheduled at this point, Ward will be touring beginning in the spring, including Coachella and a series of dates with Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo in May.

This is all fine and well, but the literary minds among you are no doubt left wondering: if April is the cruelest month, can an April release of a record with Wasteland in the title be anything other than intentional? Moreover, will Ward wear white flannel trousers and walk upon the beach? Time, perhaps, will tell. In the meantime, revisit our in-studio session with M. Ward recorded back in Marh of 2009