Pitchfork

Photo by Jen Reel

Post-Post-War, M. Ward has been busy palling around with that Zooey Deschanel character, issuing an introductory volume in their She & Him pantheon, and traveling the world both by himself and with the actress-slash-tunesmith. But come February 17, Ward will issue Hold Time, his first solo album in two and a half years and fourth new offering under his own name for Merge (4AD, meanwhile, will handle the release in the UK and mainland Europe).

While the new disc includes a jam called "Oh Lonesome Me", Ward is anything but alone on it. Hold Time features guest contributions from Lucinda Williams, former Grandaddy frontman Jason Lytle, DeVotchKa's Tom Hagerman, and the aforementioned Deschanel across its 14 tracks.

Speaking to Paste Magazine recently, Deschanel referred to Hold Time as her favorite album ever, but there's gotta be just a smidge of bias working in her estimation, don't you think? While Paste had the pair on the line, Ward let it be known that She & Him are busy working up tunes for Volume Two, which he told them is "going to be twice as good as Volume One." That may be so, M., but good luck getting a 14.8 out of us. ;-)

Ward also noted that the long-promised collaborative LP between himself, Conor Oberst, and My Morning Jacket frontdude Jim James should see the light of day in 2010 or perhaps the year after.

A little closer on the horizon is the pack of California shows She & Him will attend to next month.

Hold Time:

01 For Beginners
02 Never Had Nobody Like You
03 Jailbird
04 Hold Time
05 Rave On
06 To Save Me
07 One Hundred Million Years
08 Stars of Leo
09 Fisher of Men
10 Oh Lonesome Me
11 Epistemology
12 Blake's View
13 Shangri-La
14 Outro

She & Him:

11-01 Los Angeles, CA - The Wiltern
11-02 San Francisco, CA - Bimbo's 365 Club
11-03 San Francisco, CA - Bimbo's 365 Club
11-05 Anaheim, CA - House of Blues