So, two days ago on January 25th, Iron and Wine's first new studio album in over 3 years, "Kiss Each other Clean" was released. It had been made available for digital download on the 21st but because I wanted to give it the appropriate time and care when I listened, I waited it out until today so that I had the chance to visit my Sam Beam anthology to reacquaint myself with the music I've been a fan of for years.
Iron and Wine first came on the scene in 2002 with "The Creek Drank the Cradle", a sparse acoustic album that evoked raw emotion purely through gentle picking patterns, vocals, and beautifully thoughtful lyrics. However, I first discovered Sam Beam with his cover of the Postal Service song "Such Great Heights" upon viewing Zach Braff's 2004 anthem to my home state of New Jersey, Garden State. I wanted to hear more and quickly fell in love with "Our Endless Numbered Days", with it's dark, but beautiful imagery.
All of the best elements of these two albums, mixed up with some gentle percussion and layered vocals made 'The Shepherd's Dog" a hit in 2007. With "Kiss Each Other Clean", Sam Beam went a step further and added electronic sound (ghasp!) For die hard fans of the gentle acoustic sound that Iron and Wine has churned out since "The Creek Drank the Cradle", this might come as a shock. Beam really diversified on this album while maintaining the integrity of his personal vocal layering style. The Album's opening track, "Walking Far From Home" has a gradual build reminiscent of "The Trapeze Swinger", but it builds to a great, almost larger than life finish by the end, where Beam is singing impossibly high falsetto notes over his own system of vocal layering. This climatic end is the perfect setup for the start of a diverse and complex album.
"Big Burned Hand" was one of the more surprising tracks off of this new album. It has a funky, 70's jazz feel with the addition of a bluesy saxophone and starts to explore a genre that isn't characteristic of the Iron and Wine that faithful listeners are necessarily accustomed to. Again on "Your Fake Name is Good Enough For Me", the last track before bonus material, the '70s are alive with horns as the 7 minute song grows into a vocal layering section reminiscent of Crosby, Stills, and Nash. When the meter changes about half way through the track, the vocal layering persists underneath Beam's solo and grows to the heights set by the opening track with a full drum set and electric guitar adding tasteful complexity to Beam's simple and beautiful ideas.
I am already gearing up to see Iron and Wine downtown at the Riviera on March 4th and look forward to following him as his style continues to evolve.
More to come.
Peace.Love.Music
Kara Ali
No comments:
Post a Comment