MOGstars: 8 out of 10

Hold Time is somewhat of a misnomer for the latest album from M Ward, the Portland troubadour and She & Him collaborator; here time is something to be travelled through, not grasped. Following in the wake of 2006's Post War, which openly drew from 1940s sources, he has now taken a path that flits from the nascent rock'n'roll of the 50s to the polished sounds of Spector's sixties, cherry picking images and emotions of the decade in between.

Album opener Absolute Beginners seems like and obvious nod to Simon and Garfunkle. The acoustic guitars are gently strummed, barely troubling more than three chords. The lyrics are philosophical, yet accessible, the biblical allusions skipping almost unnoticed across the song's cheery, yet somewhat sombre, aura. The result is a track which could easily be a long lost 45, a perfect approximation of a bygone era, indeed an era just out of reach, while the sentiments are just as apt for us as they could have been 40 years ago.

On Never Had Nobody Like You Ward calls in support from Zooey Deschanel, for a charming duet that has an inescapable timelessness to it. A bluesy stomp is twinned with a folk-like gentleness, although the bass heavy intro does seem slightly anachronistic. That said the lyrics are perfectly pitched - an innocence and romance untarnished with the sexuality and torment that would explode across music in later decades. This is a comfortable period where romances (or at least romance songs) are simple and splendid, and here Ward and Deschanel offer a comforting cutesiness.

Less reassuring, perhaps, is folk-balled Jailbird. This sounds like Johnny Cash without the snarl - the incarcerated felon, awaiting his final walk repents, regrets and resolves himself. The chorus of "Help me, help me now" is unnerving in its simplicity, Yet this track is undermined simply by its position next to the real triumph of this album - title track Hold Time. This effortless segue of strings and piano could easily lurch off into "The Long and Winding Road" but instead washes over you, almost echoing The Flaming Lips at their most transcendent.

Ward does not simply echo the past in this record, however, at times choosing to dive straight into it. Recruiting Zooey once more, he offers up a perfectly judged cover of Buddy Holly's Rave On, stripped back and toned down to a subtle sonic treat. Equally impressive is the call and response of Oh Lonesome Me, which features vocals from Lucinda Williams, while Outro I'm A Fool to Want You is a smouldering guitar classic- you can practically see the sun setting and the dust swirling around a desolate and lonesome figure.

In many ways Hold Time is like a sepia photograph. It is imbued with an ever-present sense of history, redolent with reflections of a by-gone era. And as a resurrective piece it is flawless. Yet judged on its own terms, it appears to be slightly lacking. At times, the entire record seems a little too polished, too deliberate, the insecurities and reticence which made Post War so endearing, seem to have been shed. That does not make this a bad album; its ethereal qualities and intricacies make it extremely interesting, however some little spark seems to have been lost as Ward transcended the decades.