More Rain

More Rain is the eighth studio album by American singer-songwriter M. Ward. The album was released on March 4, 2016, on Merge Records and Bella Union. More Rain is Ward's first solo album since 2012's A Wasteland Companion, having released Volume Three and Classics with Zooey Deschanel as She & Him in the interim as well as recording and producing other artists.

More Rain
Studio album by M. Ward
Released	March 4, 2016 (2016-03-04)
Genre	Americana, indie folk
Length	37:14
Label	Merge
M. Ward chronology
A Wasteland Companion (2012) More Rain (2016) What a Wonderful Industry (2018)

Background

Ward began working on More Rain in 2012, initially experimenting with layering his own vocals to create a doo-wop record. After collaborating with other artists on the record like Peter Buck, k.d. lang, and Neko Case, the sound of the album went in a different direction, described as "true gotta-stay-indoors, rainy-season record that looks upwards through the weather while reflecting on his past."^[1]

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Exclaim!	7/10[2]
Pitchfork	5.9/10[3]

More Rain received a weighted average score of 72 out of 100, based on eleven critical reviews, by review aggregator Metacritic, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[4] A review in the April 2016 issue of Uncut said, "The lack of ironic twists is both slightly unsettling and hugely refreshing,"^[5] and David Harvey of Record Collector called the album "a dreamy deluge".^[6] Andrew Gordon of The Skinny said the album is "decisively easygoing", after saying, "If you're scanning these pages for a record your granny might be into, this is the one."^[7] Dean Van Nguyen of Consequence of Sound gave the album a D+, or a 33 out of 100 according to Metacritic, stating that, "All the expected points have been hit on More Rain, but the record comes off as slack and slapdash."^[8]

Track listing

All songs written by M. Ward except "You're So Good to Me" written by Brian Wilson

No.	Title	Length
1.	"More Rain"	1:01
2.	"Pirate Dial"	2:46
3.	"Time Won't Wait"	2:49
4.	"Confession"	3:14
5.	"I'm Listening (Child's Theme)"	3:11
6.	"Girl from Conejo Valley"	3:35
7.	"Slow Driving Man"	4:24
8.	"You're So Good to Me"	3:04
9.	"Temptation"	2:50
10.	"Phenomenon"	3:10
11.	"Little Baby"	3:32
12.	"I'm Going Higher"	3:38
Total length:		37:14

Personnel

• M. Ward – vocals, guitar, mandolin, keyboards
• Mike Coykendall – bass, guitar, percussion
• Joey Spampinato – bass
• Mark Powers – drums, percussion
• Scott McPherson – drums, percussion
• Mike Mogis – mandolin, pedal steel, Moog synthesizer
• Nathaniel Walcott – flugelhorn
• Paul Brainard – pedal steel, trumpet
• Peter Buck – guitar, mandolin
• Scott McCaughey – bass, guitar, organ
• Susan Sanchez – backing vocals
• The Secret Sisters – backing vocals
• k.d. lang – backing vocals
• Neko Case – backing vocals^[9]

Charts

Chart (2016)	Peak position
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[10]	59
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[11]	174
US Billboard 200[12]	128
US Top Alternative Albums (Billboard)[13]	13
US Folk Albums (Billboard)[14]	4
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[15]	7
US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[16]	16
US Top Tastemaker Albums (Billboard)[17]	7
US Vinyl Albums (Billboard)[18]	14