M. Ward - A Wasteland Companion

M. Ward has been one of my favourite artists ever since I heard two of his albums ("Hold Time" and "Post-War") in the Winter of 2010. Those albums remind me of sitting in the library for days writing an essay about China and studying for exams -- but for some reason it's not a stressful memory. I think I was happy then. Or at least understanding something for a moment, whatever that something was. Maybe the past always seems happier than the present. No? I don't know.

Anyways, M. Ward has got a new album out called "A Wasteland Companion" and I like it more and more every time I hear it. It's full of everything I love about him: folk/country/soft-pop/alt-rock/interesting lyrics/keyboard/harmonies, etc.

He's already got a video out for "The First Time I Ran Away":

The second time I ran away I saw warriors on the train catching tigers by the tail.

You can stream the full album on his website and I really think you should do that. Suffice to say I am not disappointed.

There are a couple of songs that I really like; "Clean Slate" is a beautiful little opening track, "Primitive Girl" is upbeat and fun, "Pure Joy" is dreamy and hopeful and redemptive. But I think my favourite song so far is "Crawl After You", a piano ballad that almost made me cry.

So I gotta crawl after you, tell you who I am...

My favourite M. Ward song of all time will always be Post-War.