Review: M Ward, A Wasteland Companion

M Ward is perhaps most conspicuous as the male component in She & Him, playing opposite renaissance girl Zooey Deschanel and garnering Grammy Awards along the way. Of course, she also has an acting career to juggle, while he has always erred on the right side of hip with his solo musical endeavours.

This is his first solo record in three years, and what a tasty confection it is, flavoured with cowpunk, rockabilly, Greenwich Village coffee house folk, and the merest hint of CBGB’s raw New Wave.

The gentle opening Clean Slate is Jack Johnson with substance, while Me & My Shadow has everything you could wish for in a pop song, alluding to bitchy celebrity in-fighting in the no names no pack drill school of gossip. It also drops a mighty electric guitar section from the top of the stairs mid-song, with great dramatic impact.

The husky edge of Ward’s vocal on Watch The Show has the air of Leon Redbone or Dr John, that great subterranean sound of contemporary American music.

The title tune boasts some exquisite guitar picking to the same effect, which ripples like a soundtrack by Ry Cooder in his prime. Wild Goose is not the pointless chase the title might suggest, but a tropical beachcomber of a love song to soothe the senses.

Colin Somerville

Download this: Me & My Shadow, Wild Goose