Album Description: Debut album featuring Samuel Beam, they have been on the road with Ugly Casanova (Modest Mouse) and are described as intimate American Gothic style portraits & landscapes. Sub Pop. 2002.
Amazon.com: Iron & Wine is Sam Beam, a back-porch Florida singer-songwriter whose sad little songs pack a helluva wallop. Beam's immediately likable tunes paint such clear pictures that songs like "Southern Anthem" and "Muddy Hymnal" are more akin to short stories by Raymond Carver and Flannery O'Connor than to your average pop ditty. Recorded in his living room on a vintage four-track, The Creek Drank the Cradle co-stars cassette hiss, ambient room sound, and Beam himself. A stripped-down, one-man band, Beam contributes delicious Delta-flavored slide guitar, passable banjo, and deliriously beautiful harmonizing. Beam isn't just a songwriter the equal of Will Oldham and Leonard Cohen (really--and it'll be a surprise if folks don't immediately start covering him), the boy can sing. His melt-in-your-head-but-not-in-your-ears voice is instantly recognizable and will certainly please fans of Nick Drake, Lou Barlow, and Elliott Smith. --Mike McGonigal
Pure beauty I'm not writing this as a practical, useful review, instead I just want to let the world know that for me this CD is a religious experience! Very few works of art in this world can bring one to both laughter and tears; for me this CD is an artist representation of human life in all its experience, all its stages. This piece of art, along with only a few others, has impacted my life in a strong, almost magical way. If it can do that to one person, then I suspect it's at least worth checking out. I know beauty is a subjective thing, yet so many people seem to agree on certain beautiful things. For me this is one of those beautiful things I simply can't understand not loving, despite knowing people out there will like this CD ever in their lifetimes. It's simply something i have to recommend to everyone. Please please listen, it's worth every dime and a million more.
Music to cope to This album is definitive of a certain emotion i have yet to find a name for; melancholy is close, but implies sadness, while this album evokes a sort of existential happiness whenever i give it a listen. Beam's whispers comfort me; he creates pastoral, drifting music which helps me cope with the inevitability of demise. As macabre as many people may find the notion of nostalgic joy at the death of a loved one, this album would perfectly narrate a sunny autumn funeral for a close friend, relative, or, strangely enough, oneself. By juxtaposing happiness with hopelessness, Sam Beam has created a soundtrack for human existence.
The calm during the storm Sam Beam creates music so hushed, subdued and quaint that it's very easy to imagine listening to it and have it float right by without a fuss. There's no doubt that he has the talent for crafting hooks and reeling in his audience with quiet deception, but when you create an album of nothing but soft vocals, banjo and slide guitar, a big arena sound is not what you're going to get (and hurrah to him for that).
It requires a few listens to truly get into "Creek" (even while it grabs you early) but affection is not difficult for Beam to squeeze. A rootsy folk album, "Creek" excels at small pauses. The album as a whole follows almost the exact same pace, tone and volume. And even though variety may not have served this brand of music, a few changes here and there might have lifted an otherwise solid album towards the level of greatness. Instead, enjoy the muted "Faded From the Winter," the tight plucking of "The Rooster Moans," and gentle roar of "An Angry Blade." This debut may not shake the earth, but it does surprise in the sort of spare and whispery way that Beam can appreciate.
Best cuts: "The Rooster Moans," "An Angry Blade," "Faded From the Winter," "Weary Memory," "Upward Over the Mountain," "Southern Anthem," "Lion's Mane"
Great music! Great CD- My wife and I play it with dinner or drinks- very enjoyable.
Beauty All iron and wine albums have a crazy way of painting a beautiful masterpiece in the mind, with your eyes closed and fully focused on the music its almost like letting yourself get lost in your most beautiful dream. Upwards over the mountain, is an amazing song. I fell asleap after listening to it and it just sets me at so much peace. This album slows life down for you in a way that nothing else can.
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