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Words: Steve Weston Right, lets get the grand statements out of the way first shall we? Number one: Sam Beam is a genius. Number two: this album is a disappointment. The reasons why its a disappointment are not immediately apparent; initially the warm, lulling vocals and rolling guitar conjure the same mysterious, Southern-Gothic aura prevalent in his earlier work. However, repeated listening reveals a hindrance to the expression of Beam's talent that was hinted at on his recent Woman King EP and work with Calexico, namely that superfluous instrumentation can tend to dull the images at the core of his songs rather than illuminating them. Lyrically, Beam is still on masterful form, and the deep-South bar-room boogie of The Devil Never Sleeps and Peace Beneath The City's eerie atmospherics are divertingly excellent. Its just that nothing here matches the sparse, unearthly magic of say, Southern Anthem or Sodom, South Georgia and generally his subtle, moving explorations of the human condition are undermined by arrangements and production that veer towards the dark territory of soft-rock. One of those good albums that could have been great. |
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Iron and Wine - The Shepherd's Dog Dead Meadow - Live at Brighton Audio High on Fire w/Russian Circles - Live at Brm Barfly Rilo Kiley - Live at Shepherds Bush Empire Okkervil River - The Stage Names
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Iron
and Wine – The Shepherd’s Dog (Warner)