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Hold Time - M. Ward
  • Band Name: M. Ward
  • Record Label: Merge
  • Release Date: Feb 17, 2009
Hold Time Image
Metascore
79 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 31 Critics What's this?

User Score
8.8 out of 10

Universal acclaim- based on 19 Ratings

Your Score
10 out of 10
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  • Summary: The singer-songwriter releases his latest solo album featuring guests such as The Decemberists' Rachel Blumberg, Lucinda Williams, DeVotchKa's Tom Hagerman, and Zooey Deschanel.

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 29 out of 31
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 31
  3. Negative: 0 out of 31
  1. Entertainment Weekly
    91
    Hold Time does, in fact, feel timeless, a musical wanderer's dusty, train-hopping tour through folk, blues, and country.
  2. Drowned In Sound
    90
    M. Ward turns in a star-studded set that feels at once a logical progression from 2006's "Post-War" and a step closer to that all-out classic his preceding suggests; an assimilation and appropriation of American blues, gospel, country and folk as lovingly, winningly relayed as we've come to expect from the Portland-based troubadour.
  3. Dusted Magazine
    60
    Hold Time, Ward's latest batch of songs, seems slighter, happier and louder than those on 2006's "Post-War," but also distinctly complacent.

See all 31 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 10
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 10
  3. Negative: 0 out of 10
  1. ChadS
    10
    No track on "Hold Time" will make you hold your breath like "Poison Cup" and "Chinese Translation" did, but overall, this lovely follow-up to "Post-War" might be a stronger overall album. For starters, Buddy Holly fans will go ape**** over Ward's reworking of "Rave On". "Jailbird" nicks New Order's "Love Vigilantes" with wit. "For Beginners" contains a rhythm guitar that uncannily recalls the slack-key stylings of regional artist Gabby Pahinui(made known to the world through Ry Cooder), but that might be a coincidence. "To Save Me" is a miraculous hybrid of rhythm and blues, and Ward's own personal aesthetics of musical autism. Nobody mixes the old with the new quite like Ward. His sincerity is winning, and never cloying. He's a vital artist. "Hold Time" holds steady with grace, but it lacks a classic original song. You'll just have to do with a classic cover: a languid reworking of Don Gibson's "Oh, Lonesome Me", which suggests Ward had studied the duets that Stuart Staples(of Tindersticks) recorded with actress Isabella Rosselini("A Marriage Made in Heaven") and Carla Torgeson("Travelling Light").… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  2. BobP
    10
    A funky Buddy Holly - awesome!
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  3. MichaelH
    10
    Rave On is one of M. Ward's most cherrished works, the beautiful soul-toned singer mixed with the backing vocals of Zooey Deschannel creates this airy, summery album with songs of sweet moving melodies and beautiful instrumentation with numerous tracks envoking something beyond breathtaking in the listener. Almost sounding like the album built specifically for lovers, there's nothing flirtatious about the album that keeps you listening from start to finish, waiting for the next summer adventure M. Ward has in store.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes

See all 10 User Reviews

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