New M. Ward music!

A little over a week ago, M. Ward announced that he would be releasing a new album, "A Wasteland Companion," on April 10. That was fantastic news in its own right, but today we get our first taste of what the album will sound like. He released a music video for the song "The First Time I Ran Away." The style of the video is very similar to his video for "Chinese Translation" (and according to Pitchfork they were directed by the same person).

As for the sound, the song starts with M. Ward's (should be) trademarked soft guitar playing. If he ever made an entirely instrumental album, I could probably just listen to it on repeat as a soundtrack to my life. But I digress... "The First Time I Ran Away" consists of verses detailing two times the singer ran away, and his hopes for the final time. The structure is similar to the storytelling elements in songs like "Sad, Sad Song" from "Transfiguration of Vincent" and "Chinese Translation" from the "Post-War" album. The sound reminds me a bit more like those two albums than like his most recent, "Hold Time."

"A Wasteland Companion" can be pre-ordered from the Merge Records store (allegedly with a free poster tossed in). If the price seems a little steep there, I'm sure you can always wait and get it cheaper from Amazon or another outlet. M. Ward also has a string of U.S. tour dates in April and May (as well as some non-U.S. ones before that) that you can check out here. I'm planning to get tickets to go see him at First Avenue in Minneapolis on May 24.

And I've rambled enough, so without further ado, here's the first taste of "A Wasteland Companion." I hope YouTube's servers are up to the task of handling how many times I plan to listen to this song between now and April 10...


And if you feel like singing along... here is what I've gathered are the lyrics from listening to the video. So they could be off a bit, but I think they're close...

The first time I ran away I saw faces in the trees
I heard voices in the stormy sea, ooooooooh
(by the waterfall)

The second time I ran away I saw warriors on the train
catching tigers by the tail
They sang ooooooooh

Cause the way they look at you as if you were a stranger
The way they talk to you as if you were a child
(by the waterfall)

The last time I run away, well I hope it is with you
Will you let me show you where to run?
(by the waterfall)

And for comparison (and because it's an awesome song), here is the video for "Chinese Translation" as well.