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Iron & Wine : Our Endless Numbered Days
© Sub Pop 2004
Iron & Wine is the stage and recording name for Florida singer-songwriter Sam Beam. Raised in South Carolina, Beam released his first album, The Creek Drank the Cradle, on the Sub Pop label in 2002. Beam wrote, performed, recorded, and produced every track on the album by himself at a studio in his home. Featuring acoustic guitars, banjo, and slide guitar, the album's music has been compared, variously, to that of Nick Drake, Simon and Garfunkel, Neil Young, Elliott Smith, and Ralph Stanley.
In 2003 The Sea & The Rhythm was released, an EP collecting other home-recorded tracks along the same lines as those on the debut. Beam's sophomore album, Our Endless Numbered Days (2004), was recorded in a professional studio with a significant increase in fidelity. The focus still lies on acoustic material, but the inclusion of other band members gives rise to a very different sound.
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Iron & Wine : The Shepherd's Dog
Folk / Alternative
The arrangements here are kaleidoscopic and rich. "White Tooth Man" rocks with a desperate, menacing intensity while "Boy with a Coin", the album's first single, is darkly playful with a handclap hook tumbling under its cascading melody. The whole album breathes.