iron and wine S/D

Mainly I'm just jumping in to rant about the worst paragraph of music writing I've read so far this year:

"Sam Beam - he is both Iron and Wine - is unusual, to say the least. Born and raised in the Latino-heavy sunshine state of Florida, he has somehow resisted the temptation to bang out potty-mouthed, super-heavy Miami bass and is, instead, the whispering ghost of a stripped-down, backwoods country blues he's probably no more closely related to than you or me."

http://www.nme.com/reviews/11618.htm

I'll be the first to admit that some of The Creek Drank the Cradle was occasionally pretty creepy in a "crusty leering hippie with a hot tub" kind of way. That "burns a scented oil that I'll drip into your bath" line from "Lion's Mane" was the worst of it. But get past that and some of the tunes border on heroic. At his best, the guy manages to arrange imagery, melody, and lyricism into a shimmering whole. "Bird Stealing Bread" is as tender a song about lost love as there is or will be, made all the more courageous by how vulnerable it is.

Do his hands in your hair / feel a lot like a thing / you believe in
or a bit like a bird / stealing bread / out from under your nose?

"Upward Over the Mountain" should bring tears to the eyes of any son who might have tripped over more than his fair share of obstacles. "Muddy Hymnal" is a remarkably detailed and unsettling portrait considering it's brevity.

Our Endless Numbered Days is bit of a different beast. The production rubs the sleep out of Beam's eyes and leaves him with little to hide behind. It's a crisper album; there's more texture in his voice and his songs are less ambitious. While with Creek it seemed that a well-crafted phrase lurked behind every bridge, the only standout to these ears is "light strikes a deal with each coming night."

Still, taken in it's entirety, Days is the better work. It's more consistent though less inspired. Lyrically, he's already in danger of self-parody (more birds and farms and mommies and devils), but while he's less careful with his words the songs also tend to breathe a little better; he's just not pressing as much. In addition, the album's flow is superior with more upbeat passages to keep your ears piqued and pinned to Beam's vintage pipes.

To say the attraction to Iron & Wine is nostalgic misses the point; to say it's "credible" or "authentic" does the same. For a lot of listeners, I think it's simply timely. After spending a lot of hours listening to acts like Trapist, Radian, Autechre, Prefuse 73, M83, etc., it's pretty easy to find well-executed traditionalistic music appealing. This is warm, lush stuff to wind down to, and though I've certainly tried, it seems that I can't listen to Townes Van Zandt every day. So I'm down with Bonnie Billy and I'm down with Sam Beam.

Search, people! Search!

The Baptist Generals should be getting his press, they're a lot more fun.

To avoid having to forge an actual argument: Elliott Smith sounds like he's about to flitter away at any moment; Sam Beam sounds like he might make a "yawn" move at any moment.

Love the Baptist Generals. "St. Christopher's Medal" from No Silver/No Gold is a classic. Seemed like all that hollerin' scared a lot of people off, though. How can this be?

“Bird Stealing Bread” is my favorite song from The Creek Drank The Cradle. I'm never sure if Beam is referring to a lost love or a lost child, but even the thought that it's the latter puts a different -- and very sad -- gloss on the song.

And I think he's sidestepped self-parody nicely, by writing more muscular songs with more varied instrumentation. I thought I read that he's preparing his next full-length album for late 2006. Has anyone heard about this or about the direction his music has taken?

new album spring 2010.

Will somebody tell me how he got big enough to play Radio City Music Hall in NY? That's a big room.

i mean, he's a relatively big indie-ish act.

Iron and Wine covers George Michael.

So we just need New Order to cover Iron and Wine and the circle is complete.

I was going to say: Swing Out Sister.

Songs in major keys on the new album are great! Have we discussed this somewhere

Iron & Wine - Lovers' Revolution (2013)

I'll see about getting the title changed

"Will you say to me when I'm gone
Your face has faded but lingers on
'Cause light strikes a deal with
Each coming night
Coming night"

Pretty good pen, this guy.

New one, love letter for fire, nice

Dude has 3 million listeners on Spotify, about 10x what I expected

probably featured in the OC or something

I'm guessing there aren't many Iron & Wine fans left around here, but this new archival release is beautiful stuff. A "lost" album he recorded three years before the Sub Pop debut, not quite as hushed and sparse as The Creek Drank the Cradle, he's actually got a near full band backing him up, it has a nice Neil Young vibe going on. Didn't expect to love this nearly as much as I do.

Probably featured in the OC or something

Close - House, MD. It's my only association with Iron and Wine and it's completely ruined it for me unfortunately.

I likewise didn't expect to find it as strong as I did--I imagine it got a recent remaster before its public release, but still am v impressed by how good Tallahassee sounds for an off-the-cuff lost debut (it also helps that I had low to no expectations for it).

Ghost on Ghost was a really good record, I should try out the ones that have come since