M Ward Transistor Radio CD

Personnel: Jenny Lewis (vocals); Old Joe Clarks (whistle, bass instrument, percussion); Jordan Hudson (drums); Jim James (vocals, guitar); Vic Chesnutt (vocals); Howe Gelb (piano); John Parish, Rachel Blumberg (drums).
Audio Mixers: Adam Selzer ; Larry Crane .
Recording information: Jackpot!; Mike Coyendall's Attic, Portland, Jamaica; Type Fondry!; Wavelab!.
Photographer: Zak Riles.
Listening to M. Ward's breezy ode to radio's forgotten heydays is a lot like taking in a huge breath of dust-bowl wind -- however, its charms are rooted in the hazy lemonade-sipping of summer rather than the great depression-obsession of the post-O Brother, Where Art Thou? mainstream. Ward's voice is a slap-delayed pastiche of Ron Sexsmith's easygoing croon and Andrew Bird's closed-mouth drawl, and like his front-porch fingerpicking, it's as effortless as it is effective. Transistor Radio begins with a lovely instrumental version of the Pet Sounds classic "You Still Believe in Me," then drops the needle on "One Life Away," a lo-fi shout-out to the radio towers of old that centers around the sly and condemning lines "To all the people in the ground/Listening to the sound of the living people walking up and down the graves/Well one of them is mine/I'm visiting my fräulein/She's only one breath away." Many have used the "fake old 78" approach before, but in Ward's hands it sounds truly genuine, and his falsetto harmonizing is as spooky as the song is sweet. While the rest of Radio plays out like a sequel to 2003's excellent Transfiguration of Vincent, with standout cuts like "Sweethearts On Parade," "Hi-Fi," and "Paul's Song" echoing that record's marvelous title track ("Vincent O'Brien"), there's a subtle optimism at work here that was only hinted at on previous recordings, and by the time he wraps the whole thing up with a gorgeous rendition of J.S. Bach's "The Well-Tempered Clavier," it's become apparent which fork in the road this eccentric troubadour has chosen, and it's generously dotted with pregnant storm clouds. ~ James Christopher Monger
On his second album for Merge Records, M. Ward refines his inventive indie-folk sound, opting for a pleasantly laid-back mood. The record opens with a beautiful instrumental reading of Brian Wilson's "You Still Believe in Me," a song so marked by Ward's distinctive acoustic-guitar phrasing that it's easy to forget it's a classic Beach Boys tune. Throughout TRANSISTOR RADIO, Ward is an idiosyncratic wonder--he sounds like he's been recorded at a turn-of-the-20th-century tavern on "One Life Away," while "Big Boat" conjures up the atmosphere of a 1950s Sun Records studio rehearsal. Despite this anachronistic quality, the record is remarkably cohesive, with each track confidently flowing into the next like a decades-spanning Americana broadcast. With his uniquely raspy voice and his wonderfully whimsical storytelling, Ward is shaping up to be one of the finest singer/songwriters of his generation, and TRANSISTOR RADIO makes that notion abundantly clear.Rolling Stone (p.79) - 3 stars out of 5 - "[Ward] has imbibed a sense of remorse and cold-eyed mortality from country blues and Appalachian mountain music, and incorporates them into his own decidedly modern songwriting..."
Uncut (p.102) - 4 stars out of 5 - "This is uncluttered, radiant music with the lightest touch and muggiest of voices..."
Magnet (p.53) - Ranked #8 in Magnet's "The 20 Best Albums Of 2005" - "[It's] akin to extraterrestrial border radio, bouncing through time, space and memory."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.92) - 3 stars out of 5 - "[T]here's a quality of remembrance about the album - haunted in 'Sweethearts On Parade', warm in 'I'll Be Yr Bird' - which recalls the gnawing ambiguity of Twin Peaks."