Iron and Wine - Kiss Each Other Clean

Standing Iron and Wine’s latest album Kiss Each Other Clean and debut The Creek Drank the Cradle side-by-side, it would seem the only constants were the name and the beard. The days of whispered low-fi folk tunes are long gone, replaced by wailing saxophones, keys, glockenspiel and even the occasional vinyl scratch. What has the world come to?

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A closer inspection of the back catalogue however reveals a more gradual evolution, Our Endless Numbered Days added production brushstrokes to the acoustic canvas, The Woman King EP peppered the tunes with electric guitars while 2007′s The Shepherd’s Dog transformed Iron and Wine into a full-blooded band, slaying the one-trick pony naysayers. Kiss Each Other Clean is simply the next step in this progression.

From the fuzz of opening track Walking Far From Home it’s clear that Sam Beam and cohorts have imagined a much bigger and more ambitious soundscape.  Half Moon shimmies with doo-wop harmonies, Me and Lazarus treads a smooth and gentle funk, Rabbit Will Run flirts with African rhythms while Monkeys Uptown sees a funky Beam shaking his fist at the man. Diversity is the name of the game, but the musical adventures never distract from the vivid lyrics. Walking Far From Home‘s stream of consciousness traveller’s imagery is as strong as anything he has written.

Beam’s vocal performance on Kiss Each Other Clean is also the most assured of his career. Although Beam has become increasingly comfortable in his frontman role on stage, his studio recordings have never quite reflected this. On the new release the vocals ring out like a church bell commanding your attention. It resonates through all ten tracks, but is perhaps most noticeable on ballad Godless Brother in Love, the offering closest to the ‘old’ Iron and Wine sound, where the pretty murmur of yore is replaced with a rich and emotive croon.

Some fans of the old sound will drag their feet, unwilling to move beyond the ‘I like your old stuff better than your new stuff’ camp, but Iron and Wine’s gradual transformation is the triumph of a band constantly willing themselves forward. Kiss Each Other Clean presents a strong a set of tunes that are a fine addition to an already strong back catalogue..