M. Ward - Transfiguration of Vincent
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Music CD Cover
Artist: M. WardEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2003-03-18
Music Label: Merge Records
Soundtracks:
- Transfiguration, No. 1
- Vincent O'Brien
- Sad, Sad Song
- Undertaker
- Duet for Guitars, No. 3
- Outta My Head
- Involuntary
- Helicopter
- Poor Boy, Minor Key
- Fool Says
- Get to the Table on Time
- A Voice at the End of the Line
- Dead Man
- Let's Dance - M. Ward, Bowie, David
- Transfiguration, No. 2
Free Music Notes for Transfiguration of Vincent
Free Music Review: These are songs that were meant to be heard.
Hit: 5 Stars
I must admit, I was a hater when I heard all the guff about Matt Ward... then again I've been in Portland way too long (his residence). Then one chill, lonely night, on my 3rd beer... this hush, yet genuine voice/guitar strolled in from the PA speakers. Intimate things always seem to follow, now not then, on the coat tales of these songs. Each one a little different than the last, this album is a masterpiece. Extremely honest indie-folk- evoking the spirits ofancient blues, country, rockabilly, soul, and even bebop. The result is Immaculate!
Sometimes morose, broken hearted, a little eerie, and sometimes upbeat, and dare I say rockin. One could mention the influence of classics like N. Drake, C. Stevens, and I swear I hear a hint of Johnny Cash. A reviewer might also mention contemporaries in Iron and Wine, or Pedro the Lion... but this is a whole other boat. You'd be missing the point utterly.
From seeking wisdom and relief in singing a "Sad Sad Song", to willing hope to a daydreamer in "Vincent O'Brien, or seeing the violence of a broken heart- "Outta my Head", to baring it all in "Voice at the end of the line"... the soul of the voice on this record is sincere, never indulgent, and timeless. There's even a shockingly believable reinterpretation of Bowie's "Let's Dance"- here sounding like M. Ward could've written it.
These are songs that you listen to when you're truly alone.
These are the songs that transform make out sessions.
Transfiguration of Vincent Poster
"M. Ward's Transfiguration of Vincent album is a house filled with ghosts, from the spirits of friends who have passed away to the departed legends of American roots music." -- PopMatters"This is a dark night of the soul record, a distant country cousin of Young's Tonight's The Night." -- The Wire
"Another masterclass in deft guitar picking smudged with piano, harmonica, and a voice like honey drizzled onto a dry creekbed." -- Uncut
* First time available on vinyl!
* 180 gram audiophile quality vinyl with expanded artwork by original album artist John King.
* CD released by Merge Records in 2003 has sold over 100,000 copies.
* Current member of She & Him with Zooey Deschanel.
* Announcements through website/blog campaign.
* Ads with prominent web publications.
M. Ward's third album places him in the forefront of a modern movement that is clearly progressive while simultaneously sounding regressive, manifesting a genius that is pure and untempered. His music defies description except to say it is coming from somewhere steeped in early blues with a Neil Young overlay and the feel of country, blues, pop, and folk. People point to Tom Waits and others as Ward's forbearers, but the muse here is genuinely unique and the sounds are those that only a budding genius could make. The opening riff of "Fool Says" feels like it came from Abbey Road, but by the song's end you have been dipped in Young and Dylan. M. Ward makes beautiful music--sounds like you have never encountered--and sings along with the melodies as if he can't help himself. Who could if they had this much soul? It is all coming from a very deep place, and you owe it to yourself to hear these songs because they are the most soulful and melodic tunes you will have heard in quite some time. If you put this album on your turntable it will be a long time before you take it off. The more you listen, the deeper it gets--just like M. Ward himself. This is genius--pure genius--and you need to hear it.
"Some time in 2035, I'm going to pull this album out, and it's going to sound just as good as it does now. There's something running through it that broadcasts timelessness and defies genre constraints." -- Pitchfork [8.3]
M. Ward has been championed by Howe Gelb, who released Ward's 2000 debut disc Duet for Guitars #2 on his Ow Om label, and Conor Oberst, who brought Ward on the road with Bright Eyes. In 2001, Ward earned some small measure of acclaim for his sophomore effort, End of Amnesia, and if the Portland, Oregon-based songwriter keeps making records as inventive and thoroughly rewarding as this third album, he won't be unknown long. Full of snappy, loping pop tunes interwoven with mellow instrumental passages, Transfiguration of Vincent shows Ward to be a terrific folk and blues guitarist, a perceptive, witty storyteller, and--in tossing piano, percussion, harmonica, and various other instruments into mixes that never feel the least bit cluttered--an imaginative arranger. He's also an expressive vocalist, whether in a winsome upper register that recalls Ben Harper or his sandy-throated midrange. There's not a weak moment on this dark-horse gem of a disc. --Anders Smith Lindall
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