M. Ward has revealed plans for his latest album, Migration Stories, to be released on April 3rd, 2020 via Anti Records. A full North American tour will follow in April and May – all dates below. The captivating first track, “Migration Of Souls,” is out now.
For his tenth album, he journeyed to Quebec, Canada to work with Arcade Fire’s Tim Kingsbury, Richard Reed Parry, producer/mixer Craig Silvey (Arcade Fire, Arctic Monkeys, Florence and the Machine) and Teddy Impakt. Together they recorded a collection of 11 songs inspired by stories of human migration. Languid, hazy and often dream-like in narrative, these songs have their origins in pictures from newspaper and television reports, stories told by friends and tales from Ward’s own family history. At Arcade Fire’s Montreal studios the assembled talents recorded what he describes as “11 largely instrumental ballads – a sci-fi fast forward to a more silent night many generations from here to a maybe-era where movement is free again.”
Says Ward of the stories which informed these songs, “Some time went by, the stories wove together and I remember them now closer to characters in a dream of how people could treat each other than any kind of front-page news realism. I think music subconsciously – whether writing or listening – is a filter for me. Helping to process all the bad news into something new to build from. Some records to me are like self-fulfilling prophecies – visualizing change to wish something into being. Those records inspired this one.”
M.Ward Tour Dates:
04/17/20 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
04/18/20 – Washington, DC @ U Street Music Hall
04/19/20 – Jersey City, NJ @ White Eagle Hall
04/22/20 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
04/24/20 – Boston, MA @ The Sinclair
04/26/20 – Woodstock, NY @ Levon Helm Studios
04/28/20 – Ithaca, NY @ The Haunt
04/29/20 – Toronto, ON @ The Great Hall
05/02/20 – Madison, WI @ Majestic Theatre
05/03/20 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
05/14/20 – Portland, OR @ Revolution Hall
05/16/20 – Seattle, WA @ The Neptune Theatre
05/17/20 – Tacoma, WA @ Elks Temple
05/19/20 – Sonoma, CA @ Gundlach Bundschu Winery – Redwood Barn
05/20/20 – San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel
05/22/20 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Regent Theater
Photo credit: Wrenne Evans
