Transistor Radio [Merge, 2005]
Ah, the joy of an unexpected nostalgia...
M. Ward seems to delight in the sense of historical presence that frequently gets evoked in our daily lives. The re-experience of a childhood memory when passing a certain smell, of decades-old adventures cloaked in rhyme and available only with the help of that most abruptly sensual of librarians. Bluegrass, country, and nostalgia-pop sentiments made Ward's last record an indie hit. On his new release Transistor Radio, he continues to sing like a teen sensation from the days of 78s, but his presentation does not attempt the forced sentimentalism typical of pop music.
"One Life Away" invites an image of a wooden console radio sitting at the back of a dusty theatre, a crooner then in his prime singing about hazy September love. "Four Hours In Washington", a neo-jukejoint stomper akin to a Tom Waits parody of the same, invokes the hot summers and political turbulance of the early 60s with a puff of (Cuban) cigar smoke. Each song is executed with a bravado in terms of both instrumentation and performance that saves the record from being a sentimental pastiche.
MP3: M. Ward - Hi-Fi
No comments:
Post a Comment