Iron and Wine - Kiss Each Other Clean
Iron and Wine's Sam Beam looks to shake things up a bit and expand the production palette even further for his fourth full-length release Kiss Each Other Clean, due January 25 via new major label home Warner Brothers. Known for his atmospheric and cerebral acoustic songs, Beam has stretched his earlier neo-folk musings into more experimental territory, adding a kitchen sink's worth of instruments, sounds and gentle cacophony. In stark contrast to his meditative live shows, where a pin-drop stripped intensity shrouds his lyrical imagery, his recorded works -- particularly the most recent The Shepherd's Dog (2007) -- have sounded almost restless for opportunities to drop in the random sonic ornament, almost as if he doesn't want the songs to lull but to engage more directly with the listener.
"There seems to be more of a pop element to it," he says of his new Kiss. "It definitely picks up where The Shepherd's Dog left off. It's got the same amount of sonic bits and bobs, at the same time there's horns, a lot more keys, it's kind of all over the place. Some people that have listened to it say it sounds like the smell of their parents car in the '70s — all their favorite AM Gold." The buzzing and cluttered lead track "Walking From Home" shifts the repetitive melodic line through a series of morphing production beds, utilizes electronically enhanced vocals and layered harmonies to create an impressionistic portrait more hinting more at Tom Waits than Nick Drake. After the jump, take a listen below to two new songs from Kiss Each Other Clean recorded live .
Iron and Wine - "Walking Far From Home" (from Kiss Each Other Clean)
Iron and Wine - "Half Moon" (Live at the Pabst Theatre from WUWM)
Iron and Wine - "Godless Brother in Love" (Live at the Pabst Theatre from WUWM)
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