Download: Jim Ward, ‘Broken Songs’ (acoustic)

Kevin Bronson on August 18th, 2011

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At a recent backyard acoustic set in Silver Lake, Jim Ward explained the evolution of his new solo work: “I’ve always made loud music,” he said. “I started At the Drive-In with Cedric [Bixler-Zavala] when I was 17, then I spent years with Sparta and Sleepercar. This is me, not being loud.” Ward’s new album, titled “Quiet in the Valley, On the Shores the End Begins & the Electric Six,” assembles songs from three acoustic EPs he released beginning in 2007 on his Tembloroso website, with an additional disc of plugged-in tracks. The collection, which includes a duet with Tegan Quin of Tegan and Sara on “Broken Songs,” reveals Ward as a tender balladeer and deft storyteller. Loud is good, but so is multi-dimensional.