Iron and Wine – Sea and the Rhythm
Iron and Wine – Sea and the Rhythm EP (Sub Pop)
For those unfamiliar with the plaintive, almost-unproduced four-tracked work of Sam Beam, that restrained voice around which Miami’s Iron and Wine orbits, last year’s The Creek Drank the Cradle was a heartbreaking amalgam of banjo, slide guitar, dust and longing. His songs, which draw from all of the Southern standbys – bluegrass, folk, blues and gospel – lament the loss of loves and better times, just as the simple arrangements and folksy instrumentation anchor the sound in a time gone by.
Sam Beam is not an artist one really hopes or expects to “evolve” his sound or “take off in a new direction.” His music has a very intentional anachronistic quality to it, the nature of which sort of defies updating. And so it is not disappointment or boredom but gratitude with which we receive these 5 songs, each of which would have been worthy of making the cut for The Creek Drank the Cradle, and a few of which would have been some of the strongest on the LP. Notably, the title track is a beautiful sad love song that boasts Beam’s boldest vocals to date, to breathtaking effect, and “Jesus the Mexican Boy” successfully weaves a narrative more concrete than the songwriter’s usual (admittedly well-crafted) vague stories.
jg
3172 days ago
Wow, Beam really is a great addition to my collection. Nice to be reminded every few years of an artist’s subtlety in these days of Radiohead-inspired blip & bleeps. Slide on, my man.
hotpants
3165 days ago
yeah i just got this. it’s fantastic. i’m so there. gotta see this guy, somewhere, somehow…
Thomas
3140 days ago
Iron and Wine (Beam) is the best music I’ve heard in years, I haven’t stopped listening to him since April when I first heard “creek”
Bert
3123 days ago
Just heard Jesus the mexican boy , on KEXP.org(Seattle) , that I listen on line in Paris . Very nice stuff…Want to check if the other songs have the same quality and sound …
tom
2792 days ago
hey i think is a great song one of the best ive heard …… if any one could get their hands on guitar tab or music for me id really appreciate it if u do email .e t_bowkett@hotmail.com thanks