Whether with Zooey Deschanel in She & Him, or with Conor Oberst and Jim James in Monsters Of Folk, or solo like on this track, M. Ward has not made that world-class, hit-the-ball-out-of-the-park kind of record yet. There’s no question that all of his records are certainly worth a spin…and some songs like this one are indeed superb. But I just don’t feel Ward has reached his potential as a recording artist…yet. With each new release, he seems to be getting closer to this goal and I must admit that some of the songs on his latest record, “A Wasteland Companion,” are beginning to ingratiate themselves to me by getting stuck in my subconscious. In the meantime, I’ll keep on following his releases until that real stunner he’s totally capable of full of top-shelf songs like this one comes along.
