DOWNLOAD: Jim Ward - "Broken Songs" (from Quiet In The Valley, On The Shores The End Begins & The Electric Six)

Jim Ward, frontman of Sparta and Sleepercar and founding member of At The Drive-In, will release his debut solo album Quiet In The Valley, On The Shores The End Begins & The Electric Six on August 2nd, 2011 via his own Tembloroso Recordings. The album is a compilation of his acoustic solo EP trilogy - 2007's Quiet, 2009's In The Valley, On The Shores, 2011's The End Begins - paired with an additional disc of select tracks gone electric.

The album is preceded by the digital release of the acoustic and electric versions of first single "Broken Songs", both available now on iTunes. Ward premiered the acoustic "Broken Songs", featuring Tegan Quin of Tegan and Sara on AOL Music's Spinner; the song can also be downloaded as a free MP3 above.

The solo EP trilogy marked Ward's transition to writing quieter, more autobiographical acoustic songs after years of writing and performing loud, feedback-filled rock songs. When the songs are combined on Quiet In The Valley, On The Shores The End Begins, a seamless continuity is revealed, from the warm, piano-accented opener "On My Way Back Home Again", to the soaring, poignant "Broken Songs", to the rolling and cinematic "Waves In Spanish". The companion disc The Electric Six, meanwhile, captures the many nuanced facets of the songs and represents the live band with whom Ward will tour. The six-song collection transmutes each original track: the gently urgent "Take It Back" (featuring Maura Davis of Denali) amplifies to an anthemic rocker; the haunting "Mystery Talks" becomes a dynamic swell of chiming guitars; the jangling, melodic sweep of "Coastlines" moves to a rollicking country stomp; and the antique barroom waltz of "Decades" (written for his wife of 10 years) winds to a lush, gospel swing. Whether grounded in the acoustic or electric versions, Ward's matured and warm, plaintive vocals are showcased throughout the album.

With good friend and bandmate Gabriel González, Ward produced all the tracks on Quiet In The Valley, On The Shores The End Begins & The Electric Six in their Clap of Thunder studio in their hometown El Paso, TX. A longtime champion of the city's music scene, he enlisted many local musicians to back him on the songs; they include, in addition to González, Charles Berry (The Lusitania), Chris Heinrich, Chad Morris, Joel Quintana (Sleepercar, Metatron), Nicole Smith (The Royalty), Gregg Sosa, and Ray Wallace (Secret Life of Sparrows).

Ward began writing acoustic songs in 2006 during the last Sparta tour in support of their third album, Threes. Over the past five years during downtime from touring, he continued to write and record them as EPs. The songs explore themes of home, family, and nurturing roots, strongly influenced by his past few years spent mainly in El Paso after dedicating his early adulthood to making records and touring the world. Ward initially self-released and sold out limited edition runs of each EP via his Tembloroso Creative Lab website which is dedicated to providing a worldwide voice for his hometown of El Paso's artists and musicians.

The cover artwork for Quiet In The Valley, On The Shores The End Begins & The Electric Six, designed by artist Kelsey Brookes (www.kelseybrookes.com), is shown above.

Quiet In The Valley, On The Shores The End Begins track listing:
On My Way Back Home Again
Take It Back
Mystery Talks
Coastlines
Easier Said Than Done
All That We Lost
Broken Songs
My Town
The Newest One
This Love Has Gone Away
Lake Travis
Waves In Spanish
Decades
The Beginning Of The End

The Electric Six track listing:
Take It Back
Mystery Talks
Coastlines
Broken Songs
My Town
Decades

Links:
Jim Ward