kaztor (slight return) Posted January 9, 2008 Share Posted January 9, 2008 Anyone else gotten in touch with this awesome folk band? Own up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidmoon Posted January 9, 2008 Share Posted January 9, 2008 Iron & Wine gets all the love. Sam Beam is not bad at all; I just think M. Ward is a superior musician/songwriter. Listen to M. Ward. Trust me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sounds Caress My Ears Posted January 9, 2008 Share Posted January 9, 2008 My god. I love Iron & Wine. So much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Day Tripper Posted January 10, 2008 Share Posted January 10, 2008 Iron & Wine gets all the love. Sam Beam is not bad at all; I just think M. Ward is a superior musician/songwriter. Listen to M. Ward. Trust me. I did a fair amount of listening to Iron & Wine in high school but I have to agree with you here. M. Ward is AMAZING. Iron & Wine is alright and sometimes I'm in the mood for it but generally I lean toward M. Ward like you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidmoon Posted January 10, 2008 Share Posted January 10, 2008 I did a fair amount of listening to Iron & Wine in high school but I have to agree with you here. M. Ward is AMAZING. Iron & Wine is alright and sometimes I'm in the mood for it but generally I lean toward M. Ward like you. You (and others who responded to this thread) might also like Phosphorescent. sights and sounds: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragster Posted January 10, 2008 Share Posted January 10, 2008 Not into them.............yet...thanx! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragster Posted January 10, 2008 Share Posted January 10, 2008 Hey, just listened to "A History of Lovers"....awesome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swede Posted January 14, 2008 Share Posted January 14, 2008 Got "The shepherd's dog", their latest album. I really enjoy it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Hammer of the Gods Posted January 14, 2008 Share Posted January 14, 2008 I listened to one of their records a year or two ago and it bore me to tears. Not my cup of tea, I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rock N' Rollin' Man Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 Allmusic.com Kiss Each Other Clean review 4/5 The ongoing journey of Sam Beam from bedroom mystic to ringleader of a slick stadium indie rock band is completed on 2011’s Kiss Each Other Clean. While the previous Iron & Wine album, The Shepherd's Dog, was also very produced and pro-sounding, this album is huge. Beam, a cast of many, and producer Brian Deck have embellished the songs with a ton of studio tricks, a wide variety of instruments from flute to squelchy old synths, and a tightly arranged, loosely flowing feel that anyone who was initially enraptured by Beam’s early recordings might be hard-pressed to recognize. (Though Beam’s voice is still as haunting and intimate as ever for the most part. As is his beard.) Once you accept that I&W are now as established as a “real” band on par with Wilco or the Flaming Lips, some questions arise. Are they still any good? Can Beam still capture a heart with a tender melody and an aching vocal despite all the tricks and sax solos? Does the musicianship on display overpower the songs? Will Beam survive in the big leagues? Most of these questions were answered in the affirmative on the last album; they are reaffirmed here. Beam still writes and sings in a voice that could penetrate even the most syrupy backing -- nothing will likely ever change that. His lyrics have the same broken and bruised poetry they’ve always had, only now they are surrounded by haunting and inventive arrangements that are even more intricate and interesting than on The Shepherd's Dog. This time, Beam and company bring in soft rock smoothness, dub reggae textures, and instruments that haven’t really been featured on previous records. The vintage synths in particular deserve mention; whether they are bubbling like mad on “Monkeys Uptown” or getting Stevie Wonder-funky on “Big Burned Hand,” they give the otherwise very organic-sounding arrangements a welcome cheesy kick. Other aspects that deserve praise are Sarah Simpson’s sweetly sung backing vocals and Deck’s production. He layers instruments and mixes sound like he’s baking a giant cake, giving the songs depth and a widescreen scope in the process. Beam couldn’t have picked a better person for the job of blowing his music up to the large-scale work of beauty it has become. If you’ve been on board since the beginning, you have to marvel at the perfectly timed and logical way the music has progressed. No one could ever accuse Beam of selling out his art, only growing up and building it up. Kiss Each Other Clean is the result of years of growth and change, and though that sounds incredibly boring, it’s also a record full of roiling emotion, tender wit, and deeply felt melodic beauty. In other words, a standard issue Iron & Wine record. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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