You’d have to be a hardened popophobe to find nothing appealing about David Ward’s debut, for the Canuck crooner’s magpie-like musical instincts have resulted in him dabbling in a raft of celebrated styles and mastering many of them. From the sinister fairy-tale waltz of ‘Ghost in the Woods’ and the sparse Portishead-esque canvas of ‘Lost’ (literal trip-hop; listen to that stumbling beat), to the shiny, happy, supercheesed disco of the title track and ‘Fly’s woofer-whuppin’, dirty dancefloor throb, Ward comes over as part indie-introvert, part crotch-grabbing lothario. But ain’t we all. The adhesive to this unlikely assemblage is his opulent soulful vocal, a larynx to conquer all variables, sometimes recalling the ethereal fragility of fellow countryman Partick Watson, sometimes a Pharrell were he ever prone to self-doubt. The flipside to this mash-up is that even the most broad-minded music fan might struggle to find the entire package satisfying – everyone will have their favourites. Ours is the opener, ‘Slowly Through The Night’, whose snaking electro bassline introduces some epic, near proggy guitars and keys, and finds Ward gliding from pained, sweet falsetto to sullen rap. Take a listen below, it may not be representative of the whole album, but you’d be hard pushed to find one track on ‘Golden Future Time’ that is.
Golden Future Time is out now on Golden Future Recordings