M. Ward, the Him of She & Him (as he's rightly or wrongly viewed in the mainstream), returns with his sixth solo album – though whether recording it with a total of 18 other musicians still qualifies it as a 'solo' album is up for debate.
There's plenty of musical calibre to be found among the collaborators – including Bright Eyes' Mike Mogis, Steve Shelley of Sonic Youth, and Zooey Deschanel herself. Yet despite this – and the fact that the album was apparently recorded in eight different studios across the US and UK – A Wasteland Companion sounds remarkably samey, and at times, downright dull.
Ward's growing crowd of followers probably won't be disappointed, but this record could and probably should have been better. It's less experimental and dynamic than previous output Hold Time, and suffers from an inability to ever really change pace. Potential single Primitive Girl has a few nice piano scales, but is characterised by a rather dreary sound – an attribute that can be levelled at more than one song on this record.
There's a Key, Crawl After You and Wild Goose, which come in succession towards the end of the album, could almost all be the same song. And while their lyrics are poetic, you're likely to have heard them elsewhere if you've ever owned an Americana-folk album.
Of course, there are highlights – when Ward tries something different, as on the punchy, lyrically-curious Watch The Show, the result is much more listenable. Unfortunately, in the main, he sticks to what he knows – the rather middling, often tedious folk template. And the fact that the best two songs on the album, Sweetheart and I Get Ideas, are covers tells you everything you need to know about A Wasteland Companion.
-Alex King-
