M. Ward

I'm a huge fan of She & Him's Volume Two (my most listened to album of the year so far), so I decided to check out singer-songwriter M. Ward's solo stuff. His 2009 release Hold Time features lush retro-rock compositions quite similar to his work with Zooey Deschanel, but with his softly scratchy vocals at the front of the mix. The album includes one of my favorite tracks this summer, "Never Had Nobody Like You." Ward croons over a basic blues progression and overdriven guitars that bear more than a slight resemblance to The Beatles' "Revolution." Deschanel even joins in for some backing vocals, making for a pretty fun song.

M. Ward - "Never Had Nobody Like You" (ft. Zooey Deschanel)