Depending on where a musician stands, side projects can be either be blessings in disguise, or detractions from the sincerity of their day job. Matt Ward can't be feeling too hard done-by, though; although he'd released five solo studio albums before 'Hold Time', it wasn't until last year's collaboration with actress Zooey Deschanel under the 'She & Him' banner that a wider audience recognised his abilities as a songwriter.

It'd be wrong to assume that 'Hold Time' is a continuation of the lighthearted folk-pop displayed on 'Volume One', however. Ward returns to his pared-down roots for album number six, although several tracks are bolstered by guest appearances (the marvellous Lucinda Williams, Grandaddy's Jason Lyttle and yes, Deschanel herself all feature in some capacity). That doesn't mean that his solo material is any less enjoyable - it may be lacking in sweetness-and-light, but the gruff scuffle of songs like 'Never Had Nobody Like You' and Buddy Holly cover 'Rave On', and the campfire simplicity of tracks such as 'Shangri-La' are both effective and affecting.

There's a vinyl-style hiss to the recording and the production of this album, which elicits comparisons to Cass McCombs and Brendan Benson on its more uptempo numbers (try opener 'For Beginners' for the former, the warm, deep bass-led pop of 'Stars of Leo' for the latter), but this is an M. Ward album through and through, no mistake. It chugs, crackles and occasionally falls off the scale of stimulation, but it's a primarily enjoyable record nonetheless.