''More Rain'' is the eighth studio album by American singer-songwriter M. Ward. The album was released on March 4, 2016, on

Merge Records Merge Records is an independent record label based in Durham, North Carolina. It was founded in 1989 by Laura Ballance and Mac McCaughan. It began as an outlet for music from their band Superchunk and music created by friends, and has expand ...

and

Bella Union Bella Union is a British independent record label founded in 1997 by Simon Raymonde and Robin Guthrie of Cocteau Twins. It is now run solely by Raymonde. History After releasing records with 4AD for a large part of their career, Cocteau Twin ...

. ''More Rain'' is Ward's first solo album since 2012's '' A Wasteland Companion'', having released '' Volume Three'' and ''

Classics Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...

'' with

Zooey Deschanel Zooey Claire Deschanel ( ; born January 17, 1980) is an American actress and musician. She made her film debut in ''Mumford (film), Mumford'' (1999) and had a supporting role in Cameron Crowe's film ''Almost Famous'' (2000). Deschanel is known f ...

She & Him She & Him is an American musical duo consisting of Zooey Deschanel (vocals, piano, ukulele) and M. Ward (guitar, production). It was formed in 2006 in Portland, Oregon.Scaggs, Austin"Smoking Section: Modest Mouse, Zooey Deschanel, Kings of Leo ...

in the interim as well as recording and producing other artists.

Background

Ward began working on ''More Rain'' in 2012, initially experimenting with layering his own vocals to create a

doo-wop Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a subgenre of rhythm and blues music that originated in African-American communities during the 1940s, mainly in the large cities of the United States, including New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, ...

record. After collaborating with other artists on the record like

Peter Buck Peter Lawrence Buck (born December 6, 1956) is an American musician and songwriter. He was a co-founder and the lead guitarist of the alternative rock band R.E.M.; he played the banjo and mandolin on several R.E.M. songs. Throughout his caree ...

k.d. lang Kathryn Dawn Lang (born November 2, 1961), known by her stage name k.d. lang (stylised in all lowercase), is a Canadian pop and country singer-songwriter and occasional actress. Lang has won Juno Awards and Grammy Awards for her musical pe ...

, and

Neko Case Neko Richelle Case ( ; born September 8, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter and member of the Canadian indie rock group the New Pornographers. Case's singing voice has been described by contemporaries and critics as a "flamethrower", "a pow ...

, the sound of the album went in a different direction, described as "true gotta-stay-indoors, rainy-season record that looks upwards through the weather while reflecting on his past."

Critical reception

''More Rain'' received a

weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

score of 72 out of 100, based on eleven critical reviews, by review aggregator

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, indicating "generally favorable reviews". A review in the April 2016 issue of '' Uncut'' said, "The lack of ironic twists is both slightly unsettling and hugely refreshing," and David Harvey of ''

Record Collector ''Record Collector'' is a British monthly music magazine focussing on rare and collectable records, and the bands who recorded them. It was founded in September 1979 and distributes worldwide. It is promoted as "the world’s leading authority o ...

'' called the album "a dreamy deluge". Andrew Gordon of '' The Skinny'' said the album is "decisively easygoing", after saying, "If you're scanning these pages for a record your granny might be into, this is the one." Dean Van Nguyen of ''

Consequence of Sound ''Consequence'' (previously ''Consequence of Sound'') is an independently owned New York-based online magazine featuring news, editorials, and reviews of music, movies, and television. History ''Consequence of Sound'' was founded in Septem ...

'' gave the album a D+, or a 33 out of 100 according to Metacritic, stating that, "All the expected points have been hit on ''More Rain'', but the record comes off as slack and slapdash."

Track listing

All songs written by M. Ward except "You're So Good to Me" written by

Brian Wilson Brian Douglas Wilson (June 20, 1942 – June 11, 2025) was an American musician, songwriter, singer and record producer who co-founded the Beach Boys. Often Brian Wilson is a genius, called a genius for his novel approaches to pop compositio ...

Personnel

* M. Ward – vocals, guitar, mandolin, keyboards * Mike Coykendall – bass, guitar, percussion *

Joey Spampinato Joseph Nicholas Spampinato (born August 16, 1948) is a multi-instrumentalist and was a founding member and bass player of NRBQ. He was also one of the band's lead singers and chief songwriters. Before NRBQ he played in several bands, includi ...

– bass * Mark Powers – drums, percussion * Scott McPherson – drums, percussion *

Mike Mogis Mike Mogis is an American producer/mixer/engineer and multi-instrumentalist who owns ARC Studios (Another Recording Company) in downtown Omaha, Nebraska, Omaha. Mike, along with his brother A. J. Mogis, A.J. Mogis, founded Presto! Recording Stud ...

– mandolin, pedal steel, Moog synthesizer * Nathaniel Walcott – flugelhorn * Paul Brainard – pedal steel, trumpet *

– guitar, mandolin *

Scott McCaughey Scott Lewis McCaughey is an American singer, guitarist and songwriter and the leader of the Seattle and Portland-based bands The Young Fresh Fellows and The Minus 5. He was also an auxiliary member of the American rock band R.E.M. from 199 ...

– bass, guitar, organ * Susan Sanchez – backing vocals * The Secret Sisters – backing vocals *

– backing vocals *

– backing vocals

Charts

References

External links

* M. Ward's official homepage
''More Rain'' on Merge Records
{{Authority control M. Ward albums 2016 albums