Photo by Danika Smith
When M. Ward shuffles on stage his modest stance makes you feel like you’re far away from a sold out show in Philadelphia and more like a small gathering somewhere in the Mid-West. He looks like he could be Kramer’s artsy little brother, dressed in a flannel shirt and blue jeans with wild dark hair that stands up straight. When he opens his mouth and that husky voice comes pouring out it stuns the crowd silent and sticks to the audience like unfiltered honey, soothing and sweet. Ward stands alone with an acoustic guitar in front of a projection of a windowpane, like he’s invited you into his bedroom. Almost completely still he sings “Fuel For Fire” and without wasting any time his band emerges to follow up with “Chinese Translaton” and the crowd finally stirs. What seemed like it was going to be a make-out party for the nauseating number of couples turns into well-timed rock and roll show, rife with bluegrass guitar melodies, honkey tonk sounds, and fuzzy folk.
Ward shys away from the microphone turning his back to the crowd and bounces like a little kid as he picks at his guitar with his fingertips. Each song bleeds seamlessly into another as Ward and his band pass around instruments. They change positions on stage and he sits at a piano to play a song from his new record Hold Time. He even makes a point to play a She and Him track “Change is Hard”, which as it seemed, many of the indie-pop princess Zooey Dechanel loving groupies came to the show for. As the night carries on Ward comes out of his shell becoming more playful and present, connecting with the crowd and unabashedly tearing into his guitar. He has this old-school new-school aesthetic that he’s pretty much perfected through his sound and attitude. Ward maintains a modest cool that really makes it seem like he’s living in a different time and place which he brought to Philadelphia, even if it was just for a couple of hours.
M. Ward
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