Air con clearly on the skids and it’s a full house tonight to boot. Before the review proper it’s hot, damn hot and I mean the walls are sweating. But hey I’m not sure a fifty year old, overweight man from the burbs is one to dish out fashion advice. Luckily the message seems to have finally got through that long scraggly beards and short hair is not a good look as there is a distinct lack of hipsters on show. So it’s to deepest Hipster Ville tonight with Birds Eye Andy although now to be known as Monster Energy Drink Andy. In 2012 Ward issued his seventh studio album “A Wasteland Companion”, which peaked at No. 15 on the Billboard 200, the album was a popular release among fans and critics alike and led by the single “Say Please”. The same year the singer founded the supergroup Monsters of Folk alongside Jim James, Conor Oberst, and Mike Mogis, and released a self-titled full-length. Ward’s subsequent solo album “Hold Time” arrived in 2009, and proved his highest-charting album to date, rising to No. Featuring cutesy, romantically-inclined duets, Ward and Deschanel proved a popular pairing, subsequently releasing the albums “A Very She & Him Christmas” (2011), “Volume Three” (2013), and “Classics” (2014). The pair’s debut album “Volume One” arrived in 2008, produced entirely by Ward himself, and followed in 2010 by “Volume Two”. After releasing the full-length “Post-War” in 2006, the raspy voiced singer emerged alongside singer and actress Zooey Deschanel as the musical duo She & Him. Extolled by critics the record was released on Merge Records and features a cover of the Beach Boys’ track “You Still Believe in Me”. In 2005 the singer-songwriter issued the full-length “Transistor Radio”, which marked Ward’s earliest forays into the mainstream. In 2004 Ward appeared on The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn as the guitarist in Bright Eyes, which earned a feature in Newsweek. On top of his own releases however, Ward is a regular collaborator with other musicians notably Cat Power, Neko Case, Beth Orton, and My Morning Jacket. Featuring a cover of David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance”, which also appeared in the film “Eagle vs Shark”, Ward’s third full-length album “Transfiguration of Vincent” arrived in 2003. The live album “Live Music & The Voice of Strangers” was later recorded and sold at live shows in 2001. Issued by Future Farmer Records, Ward’s 2001 album “End of Amnesia” once again highlighted the musician’s bluesy, alternative appeal. The album propelled the singer to notoriety in underground circles and subsequently began touring around the U.S. Written in Chicago and on the road to his new home in Portland, Oregon, Ward’s solo debut “Duet for Guitars #2” was released in Howe Gelb’s Ow Om Records in 1999. Prior to pursuing a career as a solo artist, the singer-songwriter learned the tricks of the trade with the folk-rock trio Rodriguez for six years. Transistor Radio's rockier road-movie songs hint that he has other tricks up his sleeve, but the fragile, bittersweet ballads suggest a huge talent deserving wider broadcast.Raised on a diet of gospel and country music, the genres would prove to have a lasting impact on M. There are tracks here - like the stunningly plaintive Hifi V2 or ghostly One Life Away - that could be pitched against a Dylan or Guthrie without embarrassment. His tools include plucked guitars, distant echoes and found sounds he revels in the mundane, and can spin a song from something as simple as a waitress's frown. He has a childlike wonderment rarely glimpsed among industry-dominated modern music, but he plays this off against a frail world-weariness. Ward's growing fan club includes Vic Chesnutt and Howe Gelb (both appearing here) and it's easy to see why. The Portland, Oregon-based M Ward describes these songs as "childhood memories of utopian radio power", and they sound as if they're beaming in from beyond space and time: desolate, eerie, and magical. Anyone who has ever tuned a radio dial and discovered a melody crackling through interference will recognise the special appeal of Transistor Radio.
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