Album Review: Iron & Wine - Kiss Each Other Clean

[4AD, 2011]

It's been a very long time since 'The Shepherd's Dog', Sam Beam's excellent 2007 album that was his springboard to the forefront of what was then a fairly new & growing american folk revival. Since then, artists like Bon Iver have taken his baton on and carved out their own styles in the niche. It isn't that surprising that Beam has tried something new with his new album, following Sufjan Stevens's retreating figure into the vague realms of electronic music, and that is apparent from the opening of the first track. 'Walking Far From Home' is utilizes almost Beach Boys-y harmonies, backing them with a mixture of synth, fuzz and choirs. The result is an excellent song different from anything he's done before, but still obviously him. The synths take an even more obvious front seat in 'Monkeys Uptown', a song that, to be honest, isn't that inspiring.


That said, it isn't totally different from before. There are still the biblical references and the odd piano ballad and fingerpicked Deep South folk tune. 'Half Moon', probably my favourite song on the album, could have appeared on any of Beam's previous albums. A lilting doo-wop backing vocalist joins him, making an almost calypso-y beat. The swanny whistles and flutes pointlessly warbling could be seen as a mistake, as could the fact that this song, like a few others on the album, outstays its welcome by at least a minute.The songwriting more than makes up for this, however, with this album featuring what is definitely Beam's strongest set of songs to date. There isn't as standout a track as 'Flightless Bird, American Mouth' here, but the songs work really well as an album, feeling relaxing and lilting while having a dark undercurrent. I can see myself getting to know this album better over the next few months, and it definitely has the potential to be one of the better records of 2011, working its way gradually into your brain over repeated listens.

Beam's new marimba-and-synth direction is definitely an interesting one. The album is really good in patches, but I'm not quite qure yet whether it has the quality to really grab your interest for the full length. It'll be interesting to see whether he continues further down this way with his next album, or whether he discards it as quickly as he did the African influences of 'The Shepherd's Dog'. Either way, I really hope he's quicker with his next album than he was with this one.