Album Review: Iron & Wine - Kiss Each Other Clean

Moving further and further away from his home-recorded, lo-fi beginnings with each release, Samuel Beam continues to refine his sound on Kiss Each Other Clean. As a result, Beam's fourth studio album as Iron & Wine is arguably an even greater sonic departure from those early recordings than his In The Reins split EP with Calexico, or 2007’s politically-charged The Shepherd’s Dog.

This time we’re deep into 1970s AM radio territory, as squelching keyboards and saxophone fill in the lines previously only suggested by stark acoustic strums or ethereal harmonics. The opening trio of ‘Walking Far From Home’, ‘Me and Lazarus’ and previously-downloadable single ‘Tree By The River’ represent the moments when Beam gets things absolutely right: packed with cinematic, quasi-religious imagery, delicious, rapidly altering soundscapes and - particularly on ‘Tree...’ - impressively emotive lyrical melodies.

Sadly, however, there are times here when he lets things slip a little too far into cod-Steely Dan territory, and both the execrable ‘Big Burned Hand’ – all skronking horns, wah-wah geetar and honking bass runs – and the soft-jazz silliness of closer ‘Yr City Is A Sucker’ are unfortunate low-points. But, this being an Iron & Wine record, such shortcomings are amply compensated for by moments of grand beauty; ‘Godless Brother In Love’, for instance, is a piano-led ballad that’s easily the equal of anything on Beam's superb 2002 debut The Creek Drank The Cradle.

That this represents Beam’s major-label debut likely has little to do with the increased production values - the man himself having always been a fiercely independent and singular character - but the overall retro feel, while so often charming, prevents some of these songs from scaling the great heights of early I&W material. Specifically speaking, the layered instrumentation often serves to mask the clarity and grace of the songs themselves - which are, in general, as well-crafted and affecting as one would expect. A solid return nonetheless.