When it comes to beards and folk music, Sam Beam’s supremacy is about as unquestionable as the president of Egypt’s (don’t do it, you’ll lose your Internet). [I wrote this before Hosni Mubarak gave any indication of stepping down. It wasn't funny then either.]
The Iron & Wine frontman has had the homeless-musician shtick down pat since releasing The Creek Drank the Cradle in 2002. Be it the sparseness of his debut or the lushness of the acclaimed The Shepherd’s Dog, Beam has an intimacy that could only be heightened if he were to whisper into his microphone.
Kiss Each Other Clean, Iron & Wine’s latest album, takes a whole new direction. Beam’s delivery, while more spread out, is esquisite as always, but at times it’s no more Mr. Nice Beard: “And it’s looking like you better do what they say. / Those monkeys uptown, they told you not to fuck around.” The most noticeable difference with this record (besides the presence of thug chimpanzees, of course) is its instrumentation. Rather than primarily using acoustic guitar, there is an influx of marimba, synth, tribal percussion, saxophone and flute — as if someone gave Beam a big gift card to his local music store for Christmas.
Along with a new sound, Kiss tries on a new style; there are distinct elements of jazz coloring the album. Usually more production is looked at with disdain, but when the starting point is as low-key as Iron & Wine, production can be added without having the result sound like Ke$ha. The funky foundation is a strange turn for Beam, but when he’s at his best here, it’s certainly a sight to see (or hear). It’s kind of like in movies when the shy girl gets a new haircut and takes off her glasses. She was really pretty before, but now… Damn.
Beam hasn’t shaved, but his new look is quite stunning — not as a standalone gem, but as a tantalizing step in a new direction.
4 out of 5
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