Pitchfork

Photo by Jen Reel

There's sort of a custom in music journalism-- actually, it's too blindingly obvious to call it even that-- where before you interview a performer about their new record, you're supposed to, uh, actually listen to that new record. When I had a chance to speak with M. Ward for a now basically defunct monthly back in 2003, his then-current album, Transfiguration of Vincent, was still a day away from showing up in my mailbox. I was still plenty naïve enough to be terrified, but as I recall, the Portland, Ore., singer-songwriter (now of She & Him fame) was generously affable and understanding about the whole blunder.

Ward's music has evolved since then, most recently on 2006's Post War, but its essential character hasn't. Even then, it was easy to get a general idea of what the new Ward record would sound like, rooted as he is in the basic idioms of folk and Americana. But describing the "Revolution" overdrive, "Nightclubbing" beat, rollicking piano fills, and the bluesy, laidback melodies of upbeat love ditty "Never Had Nobody Like You" still doesn't explain why this sounds so obviously like Ward and not, say, Dr. Dog. Would it help if I noted that She & Him partner Zooey Deschanel adds another chapter to Volume One with her straightforward backing vocal here? Ward's smoke-ringed voice aside, it's all a big shift from the lonesome orchestration of "Hold Time". Sure sounds nice next to his twangy 2005 cover of Pete Townshend's "Let My Love Open the Door", though.

MP3:> M. Ward: "Never Had Nobody Like You"
[from Hold Time; due 02/17/09 from Merge]