ARTSETC.
Iron & Wine: sublimely soft southern folk
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by w Hansen
Friday, March 26, 2004
IIntimate and mellifluous, Iron & Wine’s second LP, Our Endless Numbered Days, is a triumph of tender songwriting. Moving into the studio for the first time, Iron & Wine’s (aka Sam Beam’s) quiet vocals and instrumentation take on a clearer fidelity than previous releases, produced alone on a four-track recorder in the artist’s Florida home. With a much cleaner sound, Beam’s folk-pop vibe becomes much more discernable and assumes a quiet, building power. Beam’s banjo plays soft complement to a voice that would easily add harmony to the Byrds or CSNY. Our Endless Numbered Days sounds as though it would fit nicely into the catalogues of both Nick Drake and Elliot Smith, but there is an underlying sense of wonder in Beam’s music separating it from the resounding melancholy of Smith and Drake’s works. The album engages simple yet metaphorically abundant subjects, such as sunrises, death, loneliness and love, expressed in an intelligent, un-cliché-like fashion. Lightly strummed guitar and soft percussion accent Beam’s vocals amazingly well, making Our Endless Numbered Days a fine contemplative album, filled with introspective and thoughtful writing. Initially, the album’s songs may sound as though they might melt into one endless dream, but deeper listens prove Our Endless Numbered Days a sonically diverse piece of work. “Free Until They Cut Me Down” borrows a hook from Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus” for a harder sound in an allegorical song about a man looking back on his life and his one fatal mistake. Beam recruits the talents of his sister, Sara, to add delicate background vocals on “Naked as We Come” and the sad-soft ballad “Fever Dream.” Mellow bluegrass numbers like “Radio War” and “Teeth in the Grass” would be welcome additions on NPR playlists and “Love and Some Verses” is an up-tempo track with a more traditional banjo progression proclaiming deeply heartfelt love for a partner. The final two songs, “Sodom, South Georgia” and “Passing Afternoon,” are debatably the album’s finest. “Sodom, South Georgia,” is a deeply subdued southern stomper that rebel rockers My Morning Jacket might contemplate fleshing out with feedback in their recording silo. “Passing Afternoon” grows into a beautiful melody with subtle piano accompaniment. The lyrics coin the album’s title and speak nostalgia and regret that run’s deeper than Beam’s thick, bushy beard. Beam’s adaptation to the studio shows itself in the use of pedal steel guitar, ukulele, tambourine and piano that throughout the album. While songs on The Creek Drank the Cradle, Iron & Wine’s first album, took on a marvelously personal touch with their lo-fi production, the sophomore album is a more finely-tuned achievement. While some might miss the four-track, Our Endless Numbered Days is proof Beam is growing as a musician.
Grade: A/B
