Ward White Is The Matador
Think Like A Key, 2024
9/10
Listen to Ward White Is The Matador
The Los Angeles artist Ward White finds this 2014 effort seeing the 10 year anniversary reissue treatment, where a release for the first time on CD comes with a 20 page booklet.
“Sabbath” opens the listen with White’s bright voice alongside playful guitar and plenty of timeless pop spirit that buzzes warmly, and “Tumble” follows with a more rock focused climate via Everet Almond’s animated drumming and the expressive singing.
Further along, “Bikini” makes great use of Graham Norwood’s strategic bass amid the hazy textures, while “Dia Luna” is very bare, powerful and showcases White’s heartfelt pipes.
Residing closer to the end, “Dolores On The Dotted Line”, the best track, is a melodic and colorful moment of beauty and coziness, and “The Olde Days” exits with Bryan Smith’s dense bass alongside vivid storytelling that unfolds with plenty of unpredictable shifts in tempo, mood and ideas in its nearly 21 minutes.
Somewhere between art-rock, glam-rock, orchestral pop and psychedelic influences, White’s craft can’t truly be pinned down, but it sure is easy to enjoy and might bring to mind Bowie, Colin Blunstone or Scott Walker.
Travels well with: Ward White- Here Come The Dowsers!; Nick Frater- Oh Contraire!