Merge Records

Merge Records released M. Ward’s A Wasteland Companion, on April 10th 2012.

The album, consisting of 12 stunning tracks, was made with 18 musicians and recorded in eight different studios in Portland, Omaha, New York City, Los Angeles, Austin and Bristol (UK). Ward’s honey-soaked vocals, deft finger-picking, innate sense of melody and beguiling lyrics have already cemented his reputation as one of America’s true musical treasures and A Wasteland Companion features some of the finest songwriting and most striking delivery of his career. With each and every recording Ward finds new ways to make the colors of his songwriting palate sparkle and his dexterous skills as producer, arranger, guitarist and singer seem to burst into even brighter bloom on each release.

A Wasteland Companion features the talents of M Ward (piano, guitars, voice, production), Mike Coykendall (percussion, bass), Giant Sand’s Howe Gelb (piano), John Parish (percussion, marimba), Bright Eyes’ Mike Mogis (organ), Susan Sanchez (vocals), She & Him’s Zooey Deschanel (vocals), Jordan Hudson (percussion), Adam Selzer (bass), Nathan “JR” Andersen (piano), Scott McPherson (percussion), Sonic Youth’s Steve Shelley (percussion), Dr Dog’s Tobey Leaman (bass), Devotchka’s Tom Hagerman (strings), Oakely Hall’s Rachel Cox (vocals), Amanda Lawrence (violin), John Graboff (pedal steel) and Tyler Tornfelt (bass). The recording utilized eight engineers, including Tom Schick (Rufus Wainwright) and John Parish (PJ Harvey).

TRACK	PLAY	SONG TITLE	DURATION	PRICE	MP3 TRACK
1		Clean Slate	02:51	$0.99
2		Primitive Girl	03:10	$0.99
3		Me & My Shadow (feat. Zooey Deschanel)	02:36	$0.99
4		Sweetheart (feat. Zooey Deschanel)	03:31	$0.99
5		I Get Ideas	02:39	$0.99
6		The First Time I Ran Away	03:18	$0.99
7		A Wasteland Companion	02:55	$0.99
8		Watch the Show	03:41	$0.99
9		There's a Key	02:53	$0.99
10		Crawl After You	03:41	$0.99
11		Wild Goose	02:36	$0.99
12		Pure Joy	02:58	$0.99