M. Ward Releases Surprise New Album ‘What A Wonderful Industry’

M. Ward has issued a surprise new album entitled What A Wonderful Industry. The unexpected record features the single “Miracle Man” with My Morning Jacket’s Jim James adding additional vocals.

Made up of 12 new tracks, the digital-only (for now) release was self-produced by Ward and recorded in Portland, Oregon and is credited to M. Ward Records. The singer-songwriter’s last full-length studio album More Rain was issued by Merge Records in 2016. Ward and James (who also appears on the track “Bobby”) released the self-titled Monsters Of Folk album with Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis in 2009.

Ward, who is also one half of She & Him with Zooey Deschanel, issued the below statement regarding the surprise LP:

This is a record inspired by people in the industry I have known – heroes and villains in equal measure. There’s some beautiful moments when you travel for a living, and I’m grateful for being part of an industry that’s taken me around the world so many times – but you quickly learn there’s a perfectly imperfect balance of cold-blooded and warm-blooded animals in the zoo. This record visits the most memorable characters. There’s a lot of very inspirational people I’ve had the pleasure to work with but there are also a few I wish I’d never met. It all tragically ends with an imaginary Griffin Mill-inspired murder ballad … This album is a reminder to keep your friends close, your enemies closer and don’t let the ones that just need an extra couple hours of therapy bring you down. Anyway I hope you like it. All names have been changed to protect the innocent.

Here’s the trailer for What A Wonderful Industry:

Stream the album below: