M. Ward

Sports columnist Bill Simmons (ESPN's "The Sports Guy") has a theory that it's very difficult in the modern age for an athlete to truly be "underrated," given the sheer volume of pundits and bloggers devoted to doing things like talk about underrated athletes—and once everyone agrees that you're underrated, then you're really not underrated anymore. Portland troubadour M. Ward spent the better part of the decade being one of these ostensibly underrated guys, earning a reputation for inventive and intricate guitar playing. Then he and actress Zooey Deschanel started playing together as the old-timey, overrated duo She & Him. Their debut, last year's Volume One, was pleasant, contrived and among the least interesting albums in Ward's catalog. It was also the best-selling.

On Hold Time, he's back solo for the first time since 2006's Post-War. Deschanel disciples may be disappointed that her two appearances are limited to background vocals, but Hold Time is suffused with some of that She & Him spirit, for better and worse. He sounds positively sprightly while taking a fun spin through Buddy Holly's "Rave On" (one of the definite standouts), while "Never Had Nobody Like You" rides a fuzzy guitar line and peppy backbeat. Tasteful and tuneful, Hold Time doesn't hesitate to delve into serious issues like spirituality and immortality (best covered in the back-to-back combo of "Epistemology" and "Blake's View"). The shuffling rock numbers don't connect so well; Ward’s vocals have never been what set him apart, and the raspy vocals that songs like "Fisher of Men" provoke are the equivalent of singer-songwriter wallpaper. Perhaps a bigger surprise is that a promising duet with Lucinda Williams on Don Gibson's "Oh Lonesome Me" winds up feeling somewhat leaden–the strings sounding especially portentous. Normally Ward wears sorrow well, as he does on the somber, spacious title track.

—Adam McKibbin
02.22.09

M. Ward's fifth proper album begins appropriately with the lyric "When you're absolute beginners, it's a panoramic view," a notion that the dusty Portland, OR-based singer/songwriter must be nostalgic for as his profile increases with each and every project. His 2008 collaboration with actress/singer/songwriter Zooey Deschanel as the producer, player, and arranger of She & Him helped to let the rest of the world in on what the low-key folk underground has been savoring since 2001's End of Amnesia. His penchant for sun-drenched West Coast vistas and timeless narratives that revel in Tom Waits-inspired Americana and non-dogmatic spirituality come full circle on Hold Time, a typical Matt Ward collection of laconic summer songs that could have safely appeared in any decade without suspicion of origin. Similar in scope to 2006's Post-War, Hold Time feels like a single performance, with songs fading out within inches of their successors, often holding true to both instrumentation and theme. Ward populates the project with a handful of guest appearances, though none gratuitous. Deschanel returns the favor on two cuts, a languid cover of the Buddy Holly classic "Rave On" and "Never Had Nobody Like You," a straight-up blues-rocker that fuses a Gary Glitter backbeat to the skeleton of Post-War nugget "Requiem"; Grandaddy mastermind Jason Lytle helps turn "To Save Me" into a lost ELO-produced Beach Boys rarity; and Lucinda Williams lends her sweetly graveled pipes to a lovely, expansive version of the Don Gibson weeper "Oh Lonesome Me." As always, Ward peppers the record with originals that sound like long-lost Hank Williams tunes ("One Hundred Million Years" and "Shangri-La") and lush ballads that sound like they crawled out of an old safe deposit box. The title track in particular brings to mind Ward's English equal, ex-Pulp guitarist and ultra-cool retro-crooner Richard Hawley -- between the two of them, they've built a bridge between indie and adult alternative rock that positively reeks of class. Hold Time will do little to entice listeners for whom Matt Ward's sepia-tone charm holds no sway, but for fans who have enjoyed the ride thus far, this looks like the sunniest stretch of road yet. ~ James Christopher Monger, All Music Guide