Iron and Wine: Kiss Each Other Clean

Ignatius Says: Tasteful

The term "major indie release" is an oxymoron. The new Iron & Wine release, like the Decemberists release, is more major than it is indie. Iron & Wine has been a major part of my music experience since 2004. In 2005 Hurricane Katrina came through New Orleans late one Sunday night and changed my chaotic life forever. I returned to Florida and moved into an upstairs garret of an old two-story house. I would come home from working at the library and Sam Beam would serenade me to sleep with Our Endless Numbered Days or The Creek Drank the Cradle. At that time, Beam's music meant one thing to me: peace.

Kiss Me Clean can not be described as a peaceful album. Sam Beam has settled outside of Austin and now has children which one would assume bring an even more peaceful quality to his life. However, the new Iron & Wine is full of angst. He sings, "I still have a prayer but fewer occasions to pray." This is an album of political angst and frustration which first peaked through on his last album, The Shepherd's Dog, and Sam Beam discusses in this studio performance hosted by NPR Music .

Kiss Me Clean is also marked by a measure of lyrical chaos which has recently arrived in the music of Iron and Wine. Beam's music has always been sprinkled with biblical and religious themes. The ultimate biblical image of peace is when the lion and the lamb will lie down together on, but on Kiss Me Clean Beam described "the lion and the lamb are fuckin' in the back room"!

Musically, Beam is transforming as well. I saw Iron & Wine, with full band, on the Shepherds' Dog tour at the Plaza Theatre in Orlando and the music had definitely taken on a soul-filled, bluesy, almost jazzy, character. Likewise, many songs on Kiss Me Clean incorporate the saxophone, and brass instruments merge with steel strings to create almost a jam band feel.


Some of the traditional qualities of Iron & Wine are still present. On the song, "Tree by the River", the longing for youth, the images of nature and intimacy are all present. But artists and musicians need to grow, evolve and change. We saw immense change with Sufjan's latest album. On the Age of Adz, Sufjan Stevens has moved from a precious singer songwriter to an indie electro-pop superstar. Sam Beam has evolved as well but Iron & Wine is no longer simply a moniker for Sam but rather a full jazz, bluesy folk rock ensemble. Kiss Each Other Clean comes out on Tuesday.