aaamusic | On 03, Apr 2012

A Wasteland Companion, seventh album for Portland start Matthew Stephen Ward is finally out on April 9th via Bella Union.
M. Ward puts aside for once She & Him duet project with hipsters’ icon Zooey Deschanel, who’s now busy with her new social network HelloGiggles, and the super-group Monsters of Folk, where he collaborates altogether with Conor Oberst, Jim James (My Morning Jacket), and Mike Mogis (Bright Eyes).
A Wasteland Companion is pure ‘M.Ward-style’ with the meticulous attention to melody and atmospheres, which is clear straightaway with the soft harmonies of opening Clean State.
Primitive Girl spices it up with its uplifting pace, between Badly Drawn Boy and EELS, before a dark shadow covers Sweetheart where the choirs and handclaps seem to envisage a new She & Him-spin off, for the rage of his hard-core fans. No worries though, the rest of the album flows smooth with I Get Ideas, where he covers Louis Armstrong, and The First Time I Ran Away, where the ghosts of Elliott Smith and Nick Drake walk holding their hands. Crawl After You is the song that Ryan Adams would have loved to write with its intense lyricism and its melancholic violins.
A Wasteland Companion will let you forgive M. Ward for the poppy escapes of She & Him, especially their forgettable Christmas album, and will please old and new fans with its honesty and romanticism.

Lorenzo Coretti

★★★★★