I love this album, it chills me out, it chills my lady out, it chills the cat out. Like an injection of hypnotic happy flavoured valium, you won’t regret putting this album on. Iron & Wine is Sam Beam and his friends. File under calm and folk. The name Iron & Wine came from a dietary supplement called ‘Beef Iron & Wine” that he came across.

This folky album is full of finger picking, understated vocals, sweet harmonies and catchy tunes. Please, please play a sample, it won’t take you very long to work out if you like it, if you don’t move on as there is not a hidden hard rocking number anywhere in his catalogue.

Released
2004

Lyrics
Yes very laid back chilled out vocals, the guitar is probably more of the featured instrument though.

Mood
Calm with a capitol C is the way I’d describe this album. This is the album I play to defuse any tension that might be moving around the Toyota hatchback on a long drive. I don’t always find driving to be relaxing by the way.

Good to work to
I find this is a great album to strip away whatever is bothering you in the moment. It’s like he’s almost whisper singing it’s so laid back.

The guitar is very rythmic and dare I say it hypnotic. A lot of the guitaring is finger picking and at least with the way my brain works I just hook into the rythms.

Like
He’s the ultimate folky, there is a similar era latino artist with laid back vocals over the top of the guitar which he lets star. Not quite country, but in the ball park. I can’t for the life of me remember his name at the moment, but I will put in a link at some later stage when it comes to me.

But… If you like this you’ll like the two Beck albums I review that are similarly smokey in their vibe

The Artist/s
Iron & Wine a.k.a. Sam Beam and friends is an accidental musician. A track he wrote was given to a friend of his brother and serendipity set his career rolling. But that said he is a very talented man who was always goign to be discovered I hope. And he’s got a great name.

The crew on this album are

Sam Beam – vocals, guitar, slide guitar, banjo, mandolin
Brian Deck – drums, percussion, keyboards
EJ Holowicki – bass
Patrick McKinney – guitar
Jeff McGriff – percussion
Jonathan Bradley – percussion
Sarah Beam – harmony vocals, percussion

Other works
At last an artist where I can unreservedly reccomend their entire catalogue. It’s not so samey you don’t need to bother listening to it. But even though it is different it keeps the same laid back vibe which is great for writing.

It’s hard to recommend just one, so I won’t these two are great

Where Can I buy it, and in what formats
You can get this album everywhere and of course through iTunes. Also should still be available on vinyl. Iron & Wine – Our Endless Numbered Days, do it

The Verdict
An absolute cracker, why else would I write about it. I have no idea why I even keep this category in these reviews.