Indie-folk hero M. Ward has announced a new studio album called Supernatural Thing. Out June 23, Ward’s latest features guest spots from First Aid Kit, Jim James, Kelly Pratt, Shovels & Rope, Scott McMicken, and Neko Case. It’s also his first new album in three years, following 2020’s Billie Holiday covers project Think Of Spring and Migration Stories. Today, we get to hear the album’s title track, which comes with a video directed by Joe Trussel.

Featuring 10 tracks, Supernatural Thing includes eight originals plus two covers: David Bowie’s “I Can’t Give Everything Away” and a live rendition of Daniel Johnston’s “Story Of An Artist.” “Bowie and Johnston are constant sources of inspiration for me, have been for I don’t know how many years,” Ward says.

He continues about the album’s title track: “All my songs depend on dream-imagery to some extent. And this was an actual dream I had about Elvis, when he came to me and said that. I don’t know if it’s pandemic-related or not.”

Ward also says that his album title “comes from an early thought as a kid that radio traveled the same airwaves as messages from supernatural things — and music, especially remembered music, is somehow tied up in this exchange. The sending and receiving of messages from memory and dreams seem to move along this same often broken-up wavelength. I see this new record as an extension, 18 years later, of my ‘Transistor Radio’ record, but this new record is better because its more concise and has more voices and more moods — the way my favorite radio was and still is.”

Listen to and watch “Supernatural Thing” below.

TRACKLIST:
01 “lifeline
”
02 “too young to die” (feat. First Aid Kit)

03 “supernatural thing
”
04 “new kerrang” (Feat. Scott McMicken)

05 “dedication hour” (Feat. Neko Case)

06 “i can’t give everything away” (Feat. Jim James)

07 “engine 5” (Feat. First Aid Kit)

08 “mr. dixon” (Feat. Shovels & Rope)

09 “for good” (Feat. Kelly Pratt)

10 “story of an artist”

TOUR DATES:
05/19 – Vienna, AT @ Chelsea

05/21 – Berlin, DE @ Prachtwerk

05/26 – Lisbon, PT @ LAV

05/27 – Porto, PT @ M.ou.co

Supernatural Thing is out 6/23 via ANTI-.