Iron & Wine

Add Date: January 25

Artist: Iron & Wine

Album: Kiss Each Other Clean

Label: Warner Bros.

Genre: Alternative

Comments: Iron & Wine is one of the few bands widely known and praised, yet still able to retain indie cred. With the group's second release, the extremely original and critically acclaimed Our Endless Numbered Days, Sam Beam proved his capacity for subtle melodies and whispering vocals while singing of profound, universal topics such as death, yearning, hopelessness, love, etc. Beam is able to introduce and explore the darkness, but right when you reach for your tissues and copy of Nietzsche, he engenders hope with the comradeship he draws between his listeners and his own soul.

Kiss Each Other Clean does not deviate topically, but signifies a break with Iron & Wine's earlier work, especially The Shepherd's Dog (2007). Instead of the usual falsetto vocals, Beam channels his deeper voice in a refreshingly purer performance. The main difference, though, comes with the shift in the group's choice of instrumentation. The first track on the album, "Walking Far From Home," demonstrates this shift with the surprising amount of distortion and a progressive booming quality, making this track emotionally dark and raw. Beam's employment of horn sections in "Big Burned Hand" and "Your Fake Name is Good Enough For Me" works on the level of experimentation, but sometimes seems superfluous and could use refinement.

On a whole, this album is good. It's definitely not his best, though. The tracks don't catch on as quickly as the earlier albums' songs, but it's still an enjoyable listening experience. The real excitement comes from the expectation of the next album, which, if this pattern continues, will show the same willing originality but with more refinement.