M. Ward's hushed, heavy-hearted meditations are looser and lighter on 2012's A Wasteland Companion. His warming warble dishes out some weathered wisdom over the soft fingerpicking of "Clean Slate" and the piano rocker "Primitive Girl", before She & Him collaborator Zooey Deschanel joins for the Beatles-esque "Me and My Shadow" and the bright retro-rocking Daniel Johnston cover "Sweetheart". Elsewhere, the sparse title track hums with anticipation, building up to the closing folk ditty "Pure Joy", which glows from the simple pleasure of a kiss.