M. Ward

M. Ward was a talented, much-beloved indie singer-songwriter before he became the talented, much-beloved indie singer-songwriter by the side of Zooey Deschanel in She & Him. That duo tends toward softer, wispier strains than Ward does on his own, but his sound still slots in well with aspects of folk from the ’70s. Ward’s 2006 album, Post-War, as well as 2009’s Hold Time, pleased a good many followers with its hints of Hank Williams, Nick Drake, and any number of less distinctive neo-folkies enough for Ward to be included in the tongue-in-cheek supergroup Monsters Of Folk. His new release, A Wasteland Companion, doesn’t update his style so much as loosen it, making for an off-the-cuff album defined by smaller pleasures, like the blossom of strings and synths on “Wild Goose.” 

Updated 05/01/2012