M. Ward: Folk Rock With A Touch of Soul

If you haven’t heard of M. Ward and are a fan of the Portland Oregon music scene, then M. Ward might be right up your ally. M. Ward aka Matthew Ward has more recently been caught up with the wonderful Zooey Deschanel on the She and Him project. That hasn’t stopped him from coming out with a rich and complex album of his own with his newest solo release Hold Time. With fourteen tracks you would think a few would be worthy of your iPod’s skip button, not so. Ward has a value album if there ever was one, loaded with solemn and moody tacks, delivered with Ward’s signature soft raspy voice. When listening to Hold Time one can’t help but feel relaxed and slightly more content with the universe, it’s just the nature of his music, darkly peaceful filled with a kind of imagery that will take you places. Tacks to pay close attention to on this album are, Jail Bird, To Save Me, Fisher of Men.