Hold Time: M Ward

After a few side projects here and there M.Ward returns with a host of friends including Lucinda Williams (smouldering vocals highlight the country heartbreak of Oh Lonesome Me) and fresh from their heavily publicised musical partnership, Zooey Deschanel (who provides playful backing vocals on the upbeat blues shuffle of Never had Nobody like You and the sunny cover Rave On).

From the familiar acoustic folk guitar strum and instantly recognisable soft vocal atmospherics on the opening bars of the first track, you can already tell that after the aforementioned side projects M.Ward is back to being M.Ward – and that’s a bloody good thing.