Hold Time, M. Ward’s seventh full length album, was released today, although if Ward were to commandeer a time machine to 1958 and release it then, it’s likely no one would recognize him as an interloper.

The album is a sonic throwback on every level. It’s full of reverb-heavy Fender Stratocaster guitar work, and thematically, it captures the wide-eyed innocence of mid-century Americana. Imagine being a ‘50s era teenager from a tiny farm town falling in love for the first time. Hold Time would be the soundtrack to that experience.

The influence of the giants of this era, Buddy Holly in particular, is marked, especially in the singular guitar sound and the honest lyrical subject matter — love, falling in and out of it, etc. Ward recently told NPR that for him, Holly’s music has, “a certain amount of joy in it, no matter how sad the song is.” Most of Hold Time’s 14 tracks are melodic and lyrical sunshine, and yet there is a wistfulness that permeates and creates a mood of tangible melancholy.

All of this retro convention is a good trick, but it culminates to a substantive ‘meh.’

“For Beginners” is a catchy hand-clap-propelled start, but the album wanders from there. It’s topically rich — small towns, religion, virtuousness, starry-eyed adoration — but musically ultra-consistent and thus, kinda dull. The title track is a woozy bore. Even Lucinda Williams and her morning-after warble can’t save the plodding, clunky cover of Don Gibson’s “Oh Lonesome Me.” The similarly country “Fisher of Men” features a restrained twang reminiscent of the surf-sound guitar of Ward’s past efforts.

Indie über-producer and Bright Eyes member Mike Mogis produced Hold Time. Mogis is also behind Post War and She & Him’s Volume One. The ‘she’ of She & Him, Zooey Deschanel, makes a cameo on the sweet “Never Had Nobody Like You,” giving just a hint of her preternaturally lovely voice, the perfect compliment to Ward’s sleepy, nasal timbre. Grandaddy’s Jason Lytle and Devotchka’s Tom Hagerman also make appearances.

Hold Time is totally pleasant, playing like crackly vintage pop emanating from a barely detectable radio frequency, but it lacks a sticking point. Memorable tracks like “Right in the Head” from the wholly great Post-War are absent. It’s nice, but there’s nothing outstanding or innovative, unless you count Ward’s creation of a seamlessly era-specific album. The archetypes — Holly, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, et al — have taken over and distilled the M. Ward-ness of the effort.

Now that Ward has this throwback out of his system, he can focus on She & Him Volume Two and pick up the pace on his collaboration with Jim James and Conor Oberst that I’m not so patiently waiting for. Hold Time doesn’t suck, but Ward is better in the company of his contemporaries than his influences.

MP3s:

Buy Hold Time at Insound

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