Label: Anti
Released 6/23/2023
"Several times, as I listened to M. Ward's Supernatural Thing, I asked myself what year it was. Was it 1952, and was I listening to a track from the Harry Smith Anthology? Was it 1972, and was I eavesdropping on the recording session for After the Gold Rush? No, it's 2023, and M. Ward is one of the special contemporary artists who invite such questions. Ward has clearly mastered the whole vocabulary of American popular music and made serious decisions about how to employ it for his own ends. What Ward shares with Harry Smith's artists and Neil Young is a context of musical and human values: authenticity and intimacy. Supernatural Thing's original songs sound freshly pulled from the ground, with a little earth sticking to them. Ward's lyric delivery has that slight rawness the ear loves, and his voice has quiet dignity and great tenderness. Supernatural Thing is an open-hearted, inviting album. The album's guest stars - First Aid Kit, Shovels & Rope, Scott McMicken, Neko Case, Jim James, others - enliven the album with surprises.
Track listing:
- Lifeline
- Too Young to Die (Feat. First Aid Kit)
- Supernatural Thing
- New Kerrang (Feat. Scott McMicken)
- Dedication Hour (Feat. Neko Case and Gabriel Kahane)
- I Can't Give Everything Away (Feat. Jim James and Kelly Pratt)
- Engine 5 (Feat. First Aid Kit)
- Mr. Dixon (Feat. Shovels & Rope)
- For Good
- Story of An Artist