this is m. ward’s eighth  full length solo album. four years in the making, it was originally intended to be a true solo effort, but he eventually brought in some top notch contributors to flesh it out. peter buck, k.d. lang, and neko case are among the talents offered here. the artist admits that part of the premise of the release is ‘music to listen to on a shitty day’, and opens with a recording of a rainstorm. there is also somewhat of a tribute to doo wop here, and there is one cover of a beach boys’ song. i listened to it about 4 or 5 times straight before i felt the need to move on to something else, and enjoyed it a little more each time. this is a pretty fair review of the album:

http://www.npr.org/2016/02/24/467647156/first-listen-m-ward-more-rain