'Migration Stories' Review: M. Ward explores ripple effects of travel and escapism with lush intimate ballads
Matthew Stephen Ward aka M. Ward has been a prolific songwriter for the past 20 years. Thanks to his poetic lyrics and simplistic sound, he's been lauded as a modern-day folk and blues hero by many.
He has performed with Zooey Deschanel in the popular indie-pop duo She & Him, was part of the supergroup Monsters of Folk and has worked with artistes as varied as Jenny Lewis, Bright Eyes, Norah Jones, Peter Buck, Cat Power and My Morning Jacket among others.
Earlier this month, M. Ward released his 10th studio album, 'Migration Stories', which contained 11 largely instrumental tracks inspired by stories of human migration and connection.
These soft, languid and dreamy songs were inspired by newspaper clippings, television reports and stories told by M. Ward's friends and family — his grandfather entered the United States via the El Paso border from Mexico in the 1920s.
Recorded principally in Quebec, Canada with Arcade Fire’s production team Tim Kingsbury, Richard Reed Parry, Craig Silvey and Teddy Impakt, the collection consists of lush, intimate songs of hope and longing and has been described as "a sci-fi fast forward to a more silent night many generations from here, to a maybe-era where movement is free again."
The album opener 'Migration of Souls' is a warm, twangy acoustic melody with lovely backing vocals from Irish duo The Lost Brothers. "Sailing on past space and time, that's how I'll get back to you," M. Ward affirms in this hazy dreamscape accentuated by brass swells.
'Heaven's Nail and Hammer' employs a steadily-plodding bass and some tender vocals, wrapped up in some bluesy guitar licks and Ward's voice beckoning us to look upwards: "You'll see heaven's nail and hammer nailing holes in the sky / You'll see heaven, heaven, heaven through the holes."
'Coyote Mary's Traveling Show' features more lush, bluesy acoustic ballad work with gentle romping basslines, skittering guitar leads, and raspy vocals declaring "Tomorrow's out of my range / Here now is all there is to know / We shut the door on yesterday / Here at this traveling show."
'Independent Man' takes the atmosphere up several notches higher, as a gorgeous tooting saxophone, fluid rhythm section, and spacey background harmonies provide the perfect foil to Ward's gravelly voice as he admits — "I need you so bad / So bad that I can't understand / What I meant when I said / I'm your independent man."
'Stevens' Snow Man' is a delicately crafted acoustic blues-meets- folk jam, while the synth-laden 'Unreal City' is a sweeping, uplifting melody featuring doo-wop backing vocals and handclaps — "Anywhere the sun strikes the pavement / Anywhere there's feet on the street / I feel the most in the moment / I found peace in the unreal city," goes this retro ode to utopia and idyllic living.
'Real Silence' is a dream-pop-era special reminiscent of Slowdive and Beach House, complete with twinkling synths and lush textures, while Ward treats us soon after to a haunting, crooning cover of the classic cowboy ballad 'Along the Sante Fe Trail', made famous by Jimmy Wakely and even the great Glenn Miller.
'Chamber Music' is another tender, gossamer-light construction, as Ward instructs his lover over acoustic guitar — "Baby, hold on tight / One chamber left to go / That's the one the music knows."
'Torch' features some pleasingly vivid imagery and lilting falsettos that meld soothingly with the understated muted-thunder percussion and Spanish-themed guitars — "She took me by the arm / Said you can take the soul where you want it to / And I'm living through / Heartbeats in rhythm to its own pum, pa, pum."
The closing track 'Rio Drone' is another sparkling, gentle wisp of acoustic guitar wizardry, devoid of lyrics, but full of poignant depths, as Ward closes out the album on a reverberant, star-kissed note."
Speaking about the origins of this album, Ward had this to say about the various migration stories that inspired him. "The stories wove together and I remember them now closer to characters in a dream of how people could treat each other than any kind of front-page news realism."
"I think music subconsciously — whether writing or listening — is a filter for me — helping to process all the bad news into something new to build from. Some records to me are like self-fulfilling prophecies — visualizing change to wish something into being - those records inspired this one."
In the context of the current coronavirus pandemic, this collection of songs takes on a prescient, dreamy hue and creates a warm, comforting, spacious cocoon, custom-built for escapism and other-worldly reveries.
