M Ward To Deliver A Wasteland Companion

01/24/2012
. Merge Records have set an April 10th 2012 release date for M Ward's sixth solo album, A Wasteland Companion.

The album, consisting of 12 tracks, was made with 18 musicians and recorded in eight different studios in Portland, Omaha, New York City, Los Angeles, Austin and Bristol (UK).

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).

Inspired by his increasingly itinerant lifestyle Ward set forth to create something of a musical travelogue. He explains, "Between now and when I made Hold Time there has been a lot of traveling which requires a lot of reckoning with what to leave behind and what to carry – material and otherwise – and thinking about what I want versus what I need, creatively and otherwise. I wanted to get a reflection of that on the album. It was a process of stripping away my security blanket, which is the same four walls I always record in."

Tour Dates:

February 2 Los Angeles, CA @ Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever Cemetery
April 11 San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore
April 12 Santa Cruz, CA @ The Cocoanut Grove Ballroom
April 13 Indio, CA @ Coachella **SOLD OUT**
April 14 Santa Barbara, CA @ SoHO
April 16 San Diego, CA @ Belly Up
April 17 Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom
April 18 Flagstaff, AZ @ The Orpheum
April 20 Indio, CA @ Coachella **SOLD OUT**
May 5 Portland, ME @ State Theatre
May 6 Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground
May 7 New Haven, CT @ Toads Place
May 8 Boston, MA @ House of Blues
May 11 New York, NY @ Webster Hall
May 12 Philadelphia, PA @Union Transfer
May 13 Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
May 15 Durham, NC @ Duke Performances at Page Auditorium
May 16 Athens, GA @ Georgia Theatre
May 17 Atlanta, GA @ Buckhead Theatre
May 22 Chicago, IL @ Vic Theatre
May 24 Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue

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