For M. Ward’s new album, the singer/songwriter traveled to Montreal, to work with Arcade Fire’s Tim Kingsbury, Richard Reed Parry, producer/mixer Craig Silvey (Arcade Fire, Arctic Monkeys, Florence and the Machine) and Teddy Impakt. Together they recorded a collection of 11 songs inspired by stories of human migration. Languid, hazy and often dream-like in narrative, these songs have their origins in pictures from newspaper and television reports, stories told by friends and tales from Ward’s own family history. At Arcade Fire’s Montreal studios the assembled talents recorded what he describes as “11 largely instrumental ballads – a sci-fi fast forward to a more silent night many generations from here to a maybe-era where movement is free again.”

“Some time went by, the stories wove together and I remember them now closer to characters in a dream of how people could treat each other than any kind of front-page news realism. I think music subconsciously – whether writing or listening – is a filter for me. Helping to process all the bad news into something new to build from. Some records to me are like self-fulfilling prophecies – visualizing change to wish something into being. Those records inspired this one.”

M Ward
Migration Stories
Tracklist:

1. Migration Of Souls
2. Heaven’s Nail and Hammer
3. Coyote Mary’s Traveling Show
4. Independent Man
5. Stevens’ Snow Man
6. Unreal City
7. Real Silence
8. Along the Santa Fe Trail #
9. Chamber Music
10. Torch
11. Rio Drone

# Al Dubin, Hugh Williams

M. Ward
Live

04/17/20 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
04/18/20 – Washington, DC @ U Street Music Hall
04/19/20 – Jersey City, NJ @ White Eagle Hall
04/22/20 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
04/24/20 – Boston, MA @ The Sinclair
04/26/20 – Woodstock, NY @ Levon Helm Studios
04/28/20 – Ithaca, NY @ The Haunt
04/29/20 – Toronto, ON @ The Great Hall
05/01/20 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall
05/02/20 – Madison, WI @ Majestic Theatre
05/03/20 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
05/14/20 – Portland, OR @ Revolution Hall
05/16/20 – Seattle, WA @ The Neptune Theatre
05/17/20 – Tacoma, WA @ Elks Temple – Tickets
05/19/20 – Sonoma, CA @ Gundlach Bundschu Winery – Redwood Barn
05/20/20 – San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel
05/22/20 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Regent Theater