posted by Ariana on January 25, 2011
Late last year, many sites reported a long-awaited development. Shocking news: Iron and Wine’s leading bearded dude, Sam Beam, announced a deliberate break with his folky roots. He seemed to want to turn his back on everything that had made him loved–everything that had secured his resolutely committed fandom. He was even going to turn his back on trusty Sub Pop for big-label Warner Brothers. Needless to say, people were skeptical.
Not to seem melodramatic, but this was a big problem for some. A stab in the heart, if you will. Not only were the previous achievements to be overturned, but the hasty label switch and use of the word “pop” made it obvious that different audiences were being pandered to (bringing the inclusion of “Flightless Bird, American Mouth” in the Twilight movie sharply back into focus). All of these developments combined to raise doubts about the very legitimacy of Beam’s worthwhile body of work. Was this his goal all along?
You might be questioning my angle right about now. “It’s not a bad thing when an artist changes his style,” you might be saying. No, it surely isn’t. In fact, it’s healthy and necessary for survival–take Iron and Wine’s third album on the Sub Pop label The Shepherd’s Dog. That album made some huge changes and caused some forum-fighting, but ultimately came to be loved almost as much as (or more than) the seminal Our Endless Numbered Days. “Ok,” you might continue, “well it sometimes makes sense for a band to switch labels.” Yes, it does sometimes make sense, for some of the same reasons as above. But when you put the two changes together, they become overwhelming. A secure fan base can get rattled off of its foundation, feeling as if it is being pushed out of the way to make room for another bunch. And it did, in fact, seem as if Iron and Wine was trying to become another band entirely.
This brings me to the new album itself. Kiss Each Other Clean came out today, January 25th. The single, “Walking Far From Home,” is interesting. You can hear a lot of what I hesitate to call the “old” Iron and Wine coming through the bizarre new instrumentation and repetitive chorus. But the saving grace here are the lyrics, and the more I listen, the more I actually like this song. It’s staying checked in my iTunes.
There’s something about Kiss Each Other Clean that makes me uncomfortable. But I’m on my way to redefining my very idea of Iron and Wine in order to consolidate the new with the old and to come to grips with the changes. This isn’t the death of a band I once loved. It’s really just a fact of life, a progress (of sorts). It won’t be my favorite Iron and Wine album, but it’s more than forgivable.
Iron and Wine – Walking Far From Home (Downloaded 395 times)
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» Meaningless labels: Folk • Jazzy • Male vocal • Poppy
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