Beast Epic
After a couple of collaborative albums—one with singer/songwriter Jessica Hoop, another, all covers, with Band of Horses’ Ben Bridwell—Sam Beam returns to Iron & Wine. Pivoting from the experiments of 2013’s *Ghost on Ghost*, *Beast Epic* finds Beam in a simpler, more familiar mode: Warm, quietly celebratory folk-rock charged with uplift and hope. “Where we see enough to follow/We can hear when we are hollow/Where we keep the light we’re given/We can lose and call it living,” Beam sings on “Call It Dreaming,” blending the intimacy of Elliott Smith with the bittersweet radiance of Cat Stevens.
The Deluxe 2xLP version will be on red & blue vinyl with alternate artwork, two bonus tracks from the 'Beast Epic' recording sessions along with three home recorded demos, and will have an etching on side D. The digital download that comes with the deluxe 2xLP will also include the 5 bonus tracks found on the 2nd LP. The bonus tracks are 1. Hearts Walk Anywhere, 2. Kicking the Old Rain, 3. About a Bruise (demo), 4. Claim a Ghost (demo), 5. Summer Clouds (demo). The black vinyl single LP, CD, cassette, and digital versions will all come with a digital download of the full album, but will *not* include the bonus tracks that come with the deluxe 2xLP package.
Sam Beam brings Iron & Wine full circle on his sixth album, using the warm acoustic instrumentation of his early work and some of the most moving singing of his career.
The trajectory of Iron & Wine’s sound has been, generally speaking, from simple to complex. People fell in love with Sam Beam’s earliest recordings because they were almost frighteningly intimate: 2002’s debut The Creek Drank The Cradle consisted of home recordings on which Beam’s breath was sometimes loud enough to…
‘’You raised your glass and the scars fell from my heart’’, Beam sighs at one point. Given the attention it deserves, Beast Epic is likely to have the same effect on the listener.
Unlike a victory lap that marks the beginning of the end of one’s career, this record is a reinvigorated Iron & Wine.
Plus Steven Wilson - To The Bone, Shelby Lynne and Allison Moorer - Not Dark Yet, Judy Henske - The Elektra Albums, Angelo de Augustine - Swim Inside The Moon
Upon first listen, Beast Epic — the first album of new solo material from Iron & Wine's Sam Beam in four years — seems a bit too easy to dis...
Sam Beam’s latest album under the Iron & Wine moniker is named after an allegorical narrative featuring animal characters with human
Iron & Wine’s Beast Epic mostly just drifts by like a pleasant but fleeting summer breeze.
Americana as comfort food - a refuge from US realities. Album review by Mark Kidel