Matt—the full-name behind the initial—Ward has paid his dues. After spending six years with the group Rodriguez before beginning his solo work, he eventually signed with Merge records in 2003. He released his third album, Transfiguration of Vincent, that same year, and he took to the roads to promote it, opening for artists like Rilo Kiley and Beth Orton. While he undoubtedly enjoyed the experience of seeing new places and playing for different crowds, his touring schedule nearly four years ago left him little time to breathe. He has since realized that a well-balanced life diet must consist of both tour time and down time.
“That’s the key, really: to appreciate being in strange places,” Ward says. “For me, I need time in familiar places, too.”
Speaking from a hotel in San Francisco, the 33-year-old Ventura County, Calif., native sounds comfortable and soft-spoken, and he confirms that compared to how he felt during his intense touring years, he now feels “more well-rested and more energetic.”
Ward released Post-War, his smoky-saloon, driving-train, fifth album in August 2006. With its rolling, rumbling, constant sound of guitars, piano and drums, the album offered a spacious landscape for Ward’s smooth but hazy vocal to walk. The title, as Ward explains, was meant to be abstract.
“I prefer abstraction. I think healthy confusion is good for the shelf life of anything,” Ward explains. Using the word “war” in the title helped Ward secure that sense of confusion and interpretation because, as he says, “That particular word means something different to my generation, to my grandparents’ generation.”
But the title also rooted itself in something less abstract. “I was sort of fantasizing that this would be the first post-war record. That the war [in Iraq] would be over when this came out.” Ward says he also wanted the record to be one that was looking forward, but he cannot yet decide what title he would use for an album released in the event of the real end of the Iraq War. “I can’t really predict what’s around the bend,” says Ward.
The Post-War album was well-received by critics upon its release, and Ward toured the album through North America during September 2006 with a full band. But on this tour, Ward will take to the stage as a solo performer. “I’m stripping the songs back to when they’re first made, which is with me and a four-track.” The unaccompanied performances should come naturally to Ward, who values his alone time when it comes to creating songs. “When it comes to compositions, I’m always writing solo,” he says.
But Ward’s solitude does not always extend to the studio. His most recent recordings have notable contributors, like My Morning Jacket’s Jim James and Neko Case on Post-War. So with creative freedom in his solo music and collaboration in the studio, Ward seems to be living out the ideal music-making situation alone and with close company. “I have the best of both worlds.”
Jan. 26, Town Hall, 123 W. 43rd St. (betw. 6th Ave. & B’way), 212-997-1003; 8, $25 (SOLD OUT).
