Following the release of Iron and Wine’s newest album, it’d be hard to knock Jim Beam for anything but another successful set of music. While the album, titled “Kiss Each Other Clean,” appears, at first, to be far from comparable to “Our Endless Numbered Days” or “The Creek Drank the Cradle,” it rolls off of “The Shepherd’s Dog” with little effort.
Beam describes the album as comparable to 1960s and 70s pop influences pulling from his childhood and several other early youth experiences. This newest set has been, also, compared to surrealism, not only in style, but in lyrics, too. Each song paints a new stroke, adding new elements to the album as a whole. The listener is snagged with dream-like lyrics and melodic vibrations, interacting with the use of synthesizer in the album’s opener “Walking Far From Home,” saxophone (“Big Burned Hand”) and flute (“Rabbit Will Run”). It is evident; the album flows as a whole, but each song remains a gem given time to treasure. It is something psychedelic. It dissolves. It’ll suck us in, as Beam’s talent seems to do, time and time again.
Fortunately, for those of us drawn to what Iron and Wine offers, Beam is making a Missoula appearance in late May, the twenty-ninth at the Wilma, touring to debut the newest album. I recommend getting tickets soon! Beam’s bound to sell out the show within a month or two.
More information on Iron and Wine here.
Tickets for the Missoula show can be found here.