Watch M. Ward’s new video for “Girl From Conejo Valle”

By: Staff –

M. Ward. (Photo: Sarah Cass)

M. Ward returns with his eighth solo album, More Rain, on March 4th via Merge Records. Today, he unveiled the music video for this new single “Girl From Conejo Valley.” Directed by Ward and Carlos Forster, the track is anostalgic trot through people he used to know and a place he used to be.

M. Ward has also announced several spring 2016 tour dates including Washington D.C., New York City, Boston and more. All dates listed below.

Having spent the last decade-and-a-half based in the perennially damp Portland, Oregon, the singer-songwriter and producer has learned how to shine through the soggy gloom by simply embracing its inevitability. With his new album More Rain, Ward has made a true gotta-stay-indoors, rainy-season record that looks upwards through the weather while reflecting on his past. This album finds Ward picking up the tempo and volume a bit from his previous release, 2012’s A Wasteland Companion. Where that record introspectively looked in from the outside, More Rain finds Ward on the inside, gazing out. Begun four years ago and imagined initially as a DIY doo-wop album that would feature Ward experimenting with layering his own voice, it soon branched out in different directions, a move that he credits largely to his collaborators here who include R.E.M.’s Peter Buck, Neko Case, k.d. lang, The Secret Sisters, and Joey Spampinato of NRBQ. The result is a collection of upbeat, sonically ambitious yet canonically familiar songs that both propel Ward’s reach and satisfy longtime fans.

M. Ward 2016 Tour Dates
January 29               Los Angeles, CA @ The Cathedral Sanctuary at Immanuel Presbyterian*
January 30               Los Angeles, CA @ The Cathedral Sanctuary at Immanuel Presbyterian*
February 3               New York, NY @ Beacon Theatre*
February 4               New York, NY @ Beacon Theatre*
February 6               Nashville, TN @ Ryman Auditorium*
April 29                     Saxapahaw, NC @ Haw River
April 30                     Charlottesville, VA @ Jefferson Theatre
May 1                         Washington D.C. @ 930 Club
May 2                         Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
May 4                         New York, NY @ Webster Hall
May 6                         Portland, ME @ Port City Music Hall
May 7                         Boston, MA @ The Royale
May 27 – 30              Quincy, WA @ Sasquatch!

*with Jenny Lewis

Pre-order More Rain on CD or LP in the Merge store. The first 750 pre-orders will received a limited edition translucent red vinyl. Pre-order the album digitally via iTunes.