Americana-guitar whiz M. Ward spent most of the past two years recording and touring with songwriting partner and bonafide indie sweetheart Zooey Deschanel as She & Him. Now, finally, Ward settles down to wax his glimmering guitar and distant singing voice on a proper followup to 2006's "Post-War." If that album dealt with the imagined aftermath of war (both Iraq and, as reference, WWII), this record describes a post-world nuclear fallout where the only specks of civilization left are AM radios, weathered Bibles, and rusty steel guitars. At heart a producer, Ward journeys across that landscape with a range of guitar sounds, from Western gunslinger lead to crepuscular campfire acoustic. Most of the songs carry a quiet, measured desperation; Ward pines for salvation, by way of God, or perhaps the newly betrothed Deschanel, who appears briefly.

Like the album's title, he's biding his time, until the penultimate track "Shangri-La," when Ward finally pulls up his train to meet the creator. The closing instrumental "Outro" serves as a melancholy "My Way" that revisits the album's bumps and broken wheels, reminding us just how complete a picture it is.