I always had a distinct feeling in the back of my mind that Matt Ward would eventually get around to making an absolute masterpiece, I just had no idea that it would show up in this form. The introspective Indie-Folk troubadour had made four other albums besides this one, all subtle lo-fi minimal production works and all worth the price of admission for fans of quieter Sebadoh meets Iron & Wine type material. Then earlier this year, M. Ward finally came out of his shell a bit co-producing Jenny Lewis's excellent solo debut Rabbit Fur Coat with even himself guesting on Lewis's cover of The Traveling Wilburys "Handle With Care" with Death Cab For Cutie's Ben Gibbard and Connor Oberst of Bright Eyes. It seemed terribly ironic that Ward ended up singing the Jeff Lynne parts of that song; I mean really, could anyone out there be more of a complete opposite to Ward than the ELO front man? Or so I would have thought.

Post War finds Ward pulling the wool over everyone's eyes that has ever followed him. Backed by a full band (Rachel Blumberg of The Decemberists and Jordan Hudson, formerly of The Thermals each pulling duties on drums and Jim James of My Morning Jacket on guitar) on record for the first time ever, Ward has submitted an album to his legion of followers that will surely polarize.

It's probable that some folks out there that will cry foul to Ward branching out and trying something different from the norm, but I am not one of them. My jaw ricocheted off the floor during and after the first listen of Post War and I still haven't been able to hinge it back on right. Ward's voice has always been akin to that of Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse or Nick Drake, but now he sounds like both of them on uppers. Ward seems right at home pulverizing a cover of Daniel Johnson's "To Go Home" with Neko Case featured on harmonies, and his voice has never sounded more immediate than the bluesy chug-a-lug of "Requiem."

Ward doesn't completely abandon his modus operandi though. Older fans will revel in "Rollercoaster," so true to the lo-fi code you can hear doors in the background opening and closing as if it were recorded in an old abandoned house. Personally though, it doesn't get better for me than "Chinese Translation." When Ward bemoans "What do you do with the pieces of a broken heart?" his genius is that you can't tell whether he's sad or that his broken heart is what keeps him striving in life. Post War is the first true knockout of 2006 and may just be the cream of all the crop by years end.