█████████████████████████████████████████████████ ░ ▓▓
██████████████████████████████████████████████████ ░ ▒▒
████████████████████████████████████████████ ░ ▒▓
█████████████████████████████████████████ ░▒ ▒▒
░██████████████████████████████████████▒▒▓ ▓
███████████████████████████████████████ ▒░
████████████████████████████████████ █
██████████████████████████████████▒ █
▓█████████████████████████████████ ▒
████████████████████████████████ ▒▒
▒██████████████████████████████ ▒█
█████████████████████████████ ▒█▓▒
████████████████████████████ ░██░
░█░ ███████████████████████████ ████
██████████████████████████▒ ▓████
█████████████████████████▓ █████░
█████████████████████████▓ ██████░
████████████████████████▓ ███████
███████████████████████▓ ████████▒
▓█████████████████████▒ ▓█████████
████████████████████░ ░███████████▒
█████████░██████▓░ ▒█████████████▒
██████▓ ██ ▒▒█████████████████▒
░█████ ███ ░ ░▒████████████████████▒▒
██████▒░█▒██░█ █▒ ████████████████████████▒
████████▒ ▓███ ████▓█ ██████████████████████░
███████ ▒ ░██░ █ ███ ▒███████████████████████
███████░ ▒ ███ █ ░██████████████████████████
████████▓ ▓█░ ▒██████████████████████████████▒
████████░▒██▒██████████████████████████████████
████████████ █████████████████████████████████▒
████████████ ████████████████████████████████
████████████▓░██████████████████████████████▒ ████ ██ ██
█████████████ █████████████████████████████▒ ██ ██
██████████████████████████████████████████ ████ ██ ████ █████ ████
█████████████████████████████████████████ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██
███████████████████████████████████████▓ ██████ ██ ██ ██ ██████
██████████████████████████████████████ ██ ██ ██ ██ █ ██
████████████████████████████████████▒ █████ ██████ ██████ ███ █████
███████████████████████████████████▒ ▒
█████████████████████████████████ ▒▒░ ELITE RECORD PLAYERS
███████████████████████████████ ▒▒
█████████████████████████████ ▒ ▒▒
██████████████████████████▓ ▒▒▒
████████████████████████ ░▒
████████████████████ ░▒▓▒ ░
███████████████▒▒░░▒░█░ ░
┌────────┐
────┤ Info ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
└────────┘
Artist | M. Ward
Title | More Rain
Genre | Indie Format | Album
Source | CDDA Time | 37:11
Label | Merge Records Store | 2016
Catalog | MRG533 Rip | 2016
Bitrate | 237 kbps Size | 66.48 MB
Freq | 44.1 kHz Encoder | Lame 3.98.4
┌────────┐
────┤ Tracks ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
└────────┘
01. More Rain 1:01
02. Pirate Dial 2:46
03. Time Won't Wait 2:48
04. Confession 3:14
05. I'm Listening (Childs Theme) 3:11
06. Girl From Conejo Valley 3:35
07. Slow Driving Man 4:24
08. You're So Good To Me 3:04
09. Temptation 2:49
10. Phenomenon 3:10
11. Little Baby 3:32
12. I'm Going Higher 3:37
┌────────┐
────┤ Notes ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
└────────┘
Portland, Oregon-based singer/songwriter M. Ward (born Matthew Stephen
Ward) grew up listening to gospel and country, two genres that figure
prominently in his breezy, West Coast take on Americana. After a six-year
stint with the folk-rock trio Rodriguez, Ward began sketching out songs
deeply rooted in the classic traditions of American country-folk. Ward's
first solo effort came in the form of "Duet For Guitars #2", which was
written and recorded while he was living between Chicago and various
locales on the West Coast. Eventually, the album was placed in the hands of
the ever enigmatic Giant Sand mastermind Howe Gelb, who released it on his
own Ow Om Recordings in the fall of 2000. The record enjoyed favorable
reviews and a considerable amount of attention in underground rock circles,
and Ward supported it with a handful tours throughout the United States and
Europe.
With his static-dusted voice and predilection for early rock antiquity, M.
Ward has always come across as one of his generation's more understated
bards. Interpreting the ever-deepening subtleties of his catalog generally
requires repeated listens, and such is the case with his ninth solo effort,
the appropriately moody "More Rain". Easing in with a minute-long rainstorm
soundscape, he leads off with the dreamy acoustic gallop of "Pirate Dial",
a genial folk-pop hymn perfectly suited for the patient rotations of a
vinyl long-player. A stuttering guitar groove on the Neko Case-aided "Time
Won't Wait" quickens the album's pulse, setting up the similarly paced lead
single, "Confession", a classic Ward track replete with a rich vein of warm
backing vocals and soaring trumpet solo.
Eerie doo wop vocals adorn the beautiful ballad "I'm Listening (Child's
Theme)", then reprise sweetly on the lighter-toned "Little Baby". "Girl
From Conejo Valley" seems at first like a fairly straightforward Ward track
before the unexpected Moog synth hook in its chorus turns it into the
catchiest track on the album. "Temptation" gets some nicely layered guitar
thump courtesy of Scott McCaughey and Peter Buck, the latter of whom also
adorns the gentle country ballad "Phenomenon" with some crafty mandolin.
Ward's occasional tradition of covering a tune from rock's early days
continues here as he puts his stamp on the Beach Boys' lighthearted 1964
classic "You're So Good To Me".
It's the second time he's dipped into the Wilson brothers' catalog - he
released an instrumental version of Pet Sounds' "You Still Believe In Me"
on his fourth LP - and, though it seems like it ought to come across as
some sort of trifling gimmick, there's something about his blend of
playfulness and reverence that makes it work. Within Ward's canon, "More
Rain" may not work overtime to distinguish itself, but like nearly all of
his releases, it's a companionable listen with a lot of craft hidden under
its layers.
┌────────┐
────┤ Group ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
└────────┘