In 2003, everything broke open for Ward with the release of Transfguration of Vincent. Critically lauded and long beloved, Pitchfork hailed it as an album that “broadcasts timelessness and defes genre constraints,” and Slant placed it on their list of the best albums of the 2000s. On Transfguration of Vincent, Ward’s elegant fngerpicking, evocative croon, and heartrending lyricism came into full bloom, casting a spell so powerful that even a song as universal as David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance” felt not only new but irrevocably his. One of the most cherished albums in the Merge catalog, Transfguration of Vincent is both a great place to begin your love afair with M. Ward and a deep, stunningly realized work that listeners have returned to over and over again for 20 years.
