The Shepherd's Dog

Iron and Wine’s last release (not including the collaborative In the Reins EP which featured songs by Iron and Wine’s Sam Beam and performances by both Iron and Wine and Calexico together) was 2005’s Woman King, a 6-song EP which distinguished itself from its predecessors with a deepening integration of spiraling, dense opuses with intimate confessionals. On The Shepherd’s Dog this integration is complete. Sam Beam has confessed to finding spiritual inspiration in Tom Waits’ pièce de résistance, Swordfishtrombones, an album with which Waits upended his previous strategies and forged a new musical language for himself. Recorded by Sam with the assistance of longtime producer Brian Deck and engineer Colin Studebaker, The Shepherd’s Dog succeeds in accomplishing a similar cathartic recasting of the artist’s intentions. The arrangements here are kaleidoscopic and rich. “White Tooth Man” rocks with a desperate, menacing intensity while "Boy with a Coin,” the album’s first single, is darkly playful with a handclap hook tumbling under its cascading melody. The whole album breathes. Its seductive rhythms percolate and undulate, from the Psych-Bhangra-redux of “Pagan Angel and a Borrowed Car” to the album’s last dance—a waltz—"Flightless Bird, American Mouth.” Compositionally, it is Iron and Wine’s most ambitious and accomplished recording to date. It’s also the most satisfying.

After expanding his palette on both the superb Woman King EP and 2005's full-band collaboration with Calexico, In the Reins, Sam Beam finally completes his gradual journey from lo-fi home recordings to a full-band setup. The gorgeous results find Beam and producer Brian Deck deftly venturing into dub, blues, and West African music, among other styles.

It's a testament to fickleness that aping Nick Drake was a far more admirable profession five years ago. Not coincidentally, 2002 was the year that Iron And Wine released its debut—and songwriter Sam Beam is back to square one with "Pagan Angel And A Borrowed Car," the opening track of The Shepherd's Dog. The song…

Iron & Wine have shown an impressive work ethic since the release of The Creek Drank the Cradle in 2002.

The musical evolution of Sam Beam’s Iron & Wine is analogous to that of its album artwork, from the wheat and red clay scheme of the 4-track debut...

Iron And Wine - The Shepherd's Dog review: Proof that Sam Beam is a genius and not just some guy who made a great album in his bedroom.