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Album Review: ‘Beast Epic’ by Iron And Wine
On his sixth full-length album as Iron and Wine, folk troubadour Sam Beam harkens back to the laidback simplicity of his first two records, infusing it with the joyful spark of brightly strummed guitars and tender melodies
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On his sixth full-length album as Iron and Wine, folk troubadour Sam Beam harkens back to the laidback simplicity of his first two records, infusing it with the joyful spark of brightly strummed guitars and tender melodies.
The result is a record that is content with its sprightly hushing quality — monochromatic sometimes to a fault.
Though its title may suggest a more aggressive approach, Beast Epic is actually one of Beam’s more subdued ones, ridding of the eclectic instrumental expansions that marked some of his most recent records, notably 2011’s Kiss Each Other Clean and Ghost on Ghost, which came out two years after.
While most of the criticism of those records points to how its arrangements sometime cloud the direct simplicity of the melodies underneath, the back-to-folk basics of Beast Epic suggests that Beam may indeed be, and sound, more inspired building his songs with more than acoustic instruments.
The songs here come in the form of restrained pastoral folk, with twinkling pianos here and whispering organ lines there. The modus operandi seem to mostly be “pretty” and these songs certainly qualify with their twilight melodies — daydreaming with Beam’s fittingly vivid lyricism.
But what works well as singular experiences, feels particularly feathery as a collection of songs. This is not something the music of Iron and Wine usually feels like.
Even at their most hush-quiet, the air of mystery crowns all the gorgeous melodies with a haunting mystique; the way Beam’s whispered falsetto harmonies lingering like ambience ghost children choir in 2002’s “The Creek Drank the Cradle” or the romantic airiness of 2004’s “Our Endless Numbered Days.” You didn’t have to be an American, with a taste of country life to grasp the textures and sing along.
Beast Epic, on the other hand, drifts by too pleasantly. Its melodies hovering with charm yet often too subtly, making it more difficult than usual to latch onto anything in particular, whether it be melodic hooks or memorable lyrics.
Repeated plays do reveal more, and the hooks slowly take shape. However the best parts of Beast Epic show how strong Beam could be when he finds a sweet spot.
The repeated deliveries of the line “killers let go” in opening track “Claim Your Ghost” bursts with the kind of somber immediacy of Beam’s best whisper-folk moments.
Other standouts never quiet reach the memorability of “Claim Your Ghost.” The song “Thomas County Law” contains Beam’s usual of mix picturesque and metaphorical lyricism but the straightforward pastoral-folk delivery does not serve the imagery enough. Again, it is a pleasant song that feels to fleeting.
The measured delivery certainly has always been one of Iron and Wine’s hallmarks. However here, the nuance is so careful that one celebrates when left field flourishes such as the quasi free-jazz chaotic intro to “Last Night” rears, or the country-fried nuances of “About a Bruise” comes up.
Beast Epic does not deliver in the context of the Iron and Wine discography, but Beam is too gifted a writer and lyricist to make a bad album. As such, this feels like something that takes longer than usual to seep in, which is ironic since it contains some of the musician’s most straightforward arrangements in a while. Beast Epic is a pleasant and unremarkable record.
