Fresh off the success of the Zooey Deschanel duet She & Him and his appearance on the Obama campaign trail, Portland singer-songwriter M. Ward is back, proving he’s the only cure for slow-rock fever. On his newest, “Hold Time,” Ward merges a touch of the old-timey Wall of Sound pop values perfected on She & Him’s “Vol. 1” with the older-timey country-folk he’s built as the basis of his career, and the resulting record is Ward’s most accessible yet. Hard as I try, I can’t pinpoint one unpleasant moment on “Hold Time,” with the exception of the opening riff of “Never Had Nobody But You,” which briefly and inauspiciously sounds like Steely Dan’s “Are You Reeling in the Years?” As on previous outings, Ward proves he’s something of a studio wizard, forging different landscapes for each song; his cover of the Buddy Holly classic “Rave On,” for instance, is infinitely layered with melodies and a thick fog of reverb, creating the feeling Ward is recording on some mystical Tibetan mountain, as if that’s where Phil Spector stashed away all his production secrets before he was incarcerated. “Once in a Million Years,” on the other hand, finds Ward back in his “Post-War” existence, the hisses and scratches insinuating he’s pumping this folksy love song through some 1950s television set. (Andy Seifert)
April 26 at Vic Theatre, 3145 N. Sheffield, (773)472-0366.
Cooling It: A Preview of Colleen Green at Cole’s Bar When Green strums power chords or chiming notes on top of her backing track, you might think you’re at Ramones karaoke night and Madonna is taking her turn.
Brutal Finesse: A Preview of King Crimson at Ravinia There have been few new compositions from King Crimson these past two decades, but the live arrangements of songs from its catalog are often strikingly different than the recorded versions.
