My brain has a special grey area. It is an area where I feel peculiar empathy for all of those great artists who suddenly start losing their creative force. You can easily feel the last drops of inspiration of Matthew Stephen Ward when you listen to his 9th solo album. He has taken the average road and he ended up where he does not belong. On the other hand, it would be ungrateful to expect him to keep on delivering masterpieces. I am still head over heels because of those four extraordinary albums he released in period between 2003 and 2012.
It is almost impossible for an artist to be in good shape all the time. M Ward is also limited by his choice of genre. You know, retro indie folk can not be interesting forever. Unfortunately, More Rain does not enchant us with melodies that we would remember and sing for years after the album release. There are no great singles like For Begginers, Rave On and Big Boat. Also, album is not coherent. I anticipated the soundtrack for boring rainy day, because the intro suggested it. What I have got was confusing bunch of emotions.
After the sad first song called Pirate Dial, we get Time Won’t Wait. Even though it is a high quality number, the album starts losing its mission. It seems like the rain has stopped. Temptation is confusing, while Phenomenon brings back the image of the grey day. My favorite track of the album is I’m Listening. Too bad it is followrd by irritating Girl From Conejo Valley. I had a feeling like I was listening to the police sirens.
Am I dissapointed with M Ward? No. Let me get one thing clear – this album is a wet dream for most of indie folk musicians. It’s just that I beliebe M Ward can bring us more.
