Iron & Wine – Kiss Each Other Clean
3.8 out of 5

Sam Beam, better known as Iron & Wine, has two main camps of fans: the first are those who fell in love with the whispery, soft lullabies of his first two Lps, The Creek Drank the Cradle and Our Endless Numbered Days consisting of little more than acoustic guitar and Beam’s beautiful, hushed vocals. The latter camp side with the fuller, rich production, and backing band affairs of The Shepherd’s Dog and Beam’s collaboration with Calexico, In the Reins Ep.

In the interests of full disclosure, I must concede I have always been firmly in the first camp. After watching Beam perform with his band just prior to the release of 2007’s The Shepherd’s Dog, I couldn’t quite grasp why a songwriter who could have audience members eating out of the palm of his hand with little more than his voice and an acoustic guitar would invest in a 7-8 piece backing band to reinterpret songs that clearly were not in need of reinterpretation. It was a frustrating affair and somewhat exemplary of the age-old musical mantra “less is more”.

Thus it was with a certain apprehension that I made my way through Iron & Wine’s most recent effort, Kiss Each Other Clean. Would Beam move to an even bigger sound or would he instead appease the fans of his earlier releases? Well, the answer is that he has picked-up much where he left off with The Shepherd’s Dog. However I’m happy to report that’s not entirely a bad thing.

Lead track Walking Far From Home blends both worlds of Beam’s sound in a way I haven’t heard since the Woman King Ep. The gorgeous hymn opens with a layered and slightly processed vocal from Beam accompanied by a distorted organ sustaining a few simple chords: “I was walking far from home, where the names were not burned along the wall. Saw a building high as heaven but the door was so small, door was so small.” Despite the big, bold production, which includes organ, piano, xylophone, percussion, and backing vocals, the track retains the simplicity of the verse-verse styling’s Beam executed so well on his earlier releases.

Beam wastes no time however in switching things up. Me and Lazarus enters with a synth drone, a variety of percussion and bass before introducing acoustic guitar, saxophone and what sounds like a pan flute. It’s a bold choice and clearly an attempt to push the constraints of what an Iron & Wine record can or should be. The problem is it doesn’t exactly work. The sax acts more as a distraction than contributing anything authentic to the melody. This is also the case with Big Burned Hand which is best described as overkill. One part jazz, one part funk, Beam’s vocals get lost in the mix and the arrangement simply doesn’t go anywhere.

Then you get to Monkeys Uptown and everything falls into place. Beam has become a master of multi-tracking his vocals and here the process works to gorgeous effect. Likewise, all of the instrumental additions fall seamlessly into the mix. This effect is executed with even greater results on album standout Rabbit Will Run. While a distorted, electric organ attempts to tear a hole through the middle of the mix, Beam sings: “We bricked up the garden and oh what it means, and we’ve all kissed a virgin as if she were clean, and I still have a prayer despite all the colours I’ve seen.” It’s a stunning moment and a true illustration of how far Beam’s songwriting has come since The Creek Drank The Cradle.

What I found most impressive about Kiss Each Other Clean is the evolution of Beam’s vocal. Where he previously sang in little more than a whisper, here he has a tendency to swing for the rafters and is all the better for doing so. His vocal at the conclusion of the epic Your Fake Name Is Good Enough For Me, which is divided into two distinct parts, plays like a protest song: “Become the bandage and the blade, we will become, become. Become the word and the breath, we will become, become.” Beam sings like his life depends on it and as a result, it resonates in a way it never has before.

Despite a clear step forward in Beam’s songwriting I would be lying if I said I’ve been converted to that second camp. I will concede however that I’m now excited to see where he might go next and that’s more than reason enough to continue to explore the nuances of Kiss Each Other Clean for another week… or maybe two.

- Ewan Christie