Iron & Wine -- The Shepherd's Dog

I've heard two tracks so far and am excited for it. I'm not a I&W convert, though I do own his other two albums. He's good, capable of being great, but he's yet to thrill me for an entire album. But I have higher hopes for the new one.

I'm not a I&W convert . . . He's good, capable of being great. . .

Beam's songwriting had me from the first time I heard Bird Stealing Bread. I never know whether he's talking about a former girlfriend or a child that died, and the song becomes very poignant and powerful (to me, at least) if it's the latter. The key lyrics to me are:

Tell me baby tell me
Does his company make
Light of a rainy day
How I've missed you lately
And the way we would speak
And all that we wouldn't say

Do his hands in your hair
Feel a lot like a thing you believe in
Or a bit like a bird stealing bread
Out from under your nose

The person whose "hands (are) in her hair" is either his ex's-new boyfriend or God. Powerful song, to me (maybe because I have a 6 year old daughter and/or because I'm a sap). I'm sure many others consider Beam's lyrics hackneyed or trite, but I think they're brilliant. Anyway, I've loved just about everything he's done since, and have high hopes for the new disc.

One more: NYT Review

Sam Beam doesn’t sound like a loner anymore. The quietly enigmatic, gentle-voiced songwriter behind Iron and Wine has been publicly teaching himself how to work with a band: in the studio, in collaborations with Calexico, and on tour. “The Shepherd’s Dog” is the brilliant culmination of his experiments. It makes Iron and Wine sound like a band: sometimes a jam band, sometimes a freak-folk band, but always one that works its way deep into Mr. Beam’s songs.

This lineup of Iron and Wine (with members of Calexico sitting in) plays finely wound vamps, usually but not always acoustic and generally setting aside trap drums for hand percussion. Most of the songs are folky or countryish, interweaving banjo and pedal-steel guitar with acoustic guitar picking; a few link Appalachian modes to Eastern music. And every track works up to hypnotic intricacies. Nothing is ruled out: electric instruments peek in, and the producer Brian Deck toys with the echoes and hide-and-seek sounds of dub reggae. “Wolves (Song of the Shepherd’s Dog)” trades folkiness for something like funk, hinting at War and Talking Heads.

Mr. Beam’s nonlinear lyrics delve into memory and transformation, war and faith. “The Devil Never Sleeps,” which chugs ahead like old piano-boogie rock and roll, conjures up “a city full of fathers in their Army clothes” where “someone bet a dollar that my daddy wasn’t coming home.” Where Zen Buddhism has those paradoxical koan utterances, Mr. Beam comes up with what might be Christian koans: “With his gun, the pagan angel rose to say, ‘My love is one made to break every bended knee.’ ” The songs can’t be pinned down, but each one creates mysteries all its own.

Seriously psyched for this.

I've been listening to this for a couple of days, and I can see why older fans might be startled by the richness and clarity of it. Sam traded in the old character-filled cottage for a small palace. But almost every (successful) musician can be expected to ditch their low-fi origins at some point. It's just rare that it translates so well. Maybe it's just me, because I love the Talking Heads approach to music-as-stew, but I'm totally smitten right now. This shit is vibrant!

This shit is vibrant!

I'd have been happy if he kept to the lo-fi stuff, but (a) the newer songs I've heard -- e.g., the Calexico collaborations -- enhance and enliven Beam's work and (b) it's totally understandable that Beam would want to progress, try new things, broaden his sound, and so forth.

Now that it's been out for a bit, what does everyone think of this?

To my ears it sounds nice enough but I don't know if it's as good as Woman King.

i didn't like his stuff much before this one. too unassuming or subtle or something. this one i like, all the sitar and psych flourishes and stuff. but since i never got into him before, i'm probably not the best judge

I've enjoyed it greatly.

Love the album.

I'm glad he's abandoned that soft "let me lay my beard on your shoulder" style of singing and replaced it with a louder, more projected style.

I was worried his delicate songs would break under the weight of the extra instrumentation. But, as it turns out, I think the more robust sound really benefits his songs (in unexpected ways).

"Boy With A Coin" is a "Buy U A Drank" ripoff

Not surprising. Iron & Wine rips off all his songs from T-Pain.

I've had this album for months now, and I've been really enjoying it but it's only now the clocks have gone forward that it's starting to sink in properly.

House By The Sea is becoming my go-to song on this disc. Such an unexpected sound for Sam Beam; It's almost highlife!

I was frustrated with the lyrics on Sheppard's Dog for a while, since they are harder (for me) to interpret than the lyrics on Iron & Wine's prior discs, but now I've let that feeling go and the poetry in these lyrics is opening up for me a bit more.

two years later and i love house by the sea even more now.

new disc -- kiss each other clean -- arrives early next year. can't wait.

new album out january 25. maybe i'll start a thread on it, but i figure it would only appeal to maybe four or five posters. i think beam's an amazing talent, and i like the sound now that, more and more, he's fleshing out the instrumentation and arrangements.

Nice! Didn't know he had a new one coming out (although it has been awhile). Have you heard the assorted b-sides disc that was released about a year ago? I haven't checked it out yet, but read some good things about it.

thread for the new one over here: Iron & Wine - Kiss Each Other Clean

i'd almost forgotten about Iron and Wine. Going back to some of their stuff now and it's still really good. one of these mid-2000s hype bands that haven't aged badly at all.