Iron And Wine – Light Verse review

In the last few weeks Sam Beam marked the twentieth anniversary of Our Endless Numbered Days release, the album which first brought Iron And Wine to prominence, eventually selling more than half a million copies worldwide.

Part of the appeal – as even the title went some way to representing – was how it’s writer blended darkness and light within the rustic Americana, meanings within meanings, riddles wrapped inside enigmas as is so often the case for life in places where an amber light means stop.

Beam however found himself grounded by the pandemic, or more specifically in it’s uneasy wake, suffering from two years worth of creative malaise as a direct consequence. This explains the five year wait for Light Verse, a record which was recorded in LA’s idyllic Laurel Canyon with a group of seasoned players and produced in conjunction with Dave Way.

Beam is now seasoned enough to apply subtle change in both tone and meaning, a twenty four piece orchestra adding cinematic flourishes to the likes of Tears Don’t Matter, whilst opener You Never Know builds from a twisted single note with calculated layers. Playful and with no little humour at work, Light Verse peaks however on All In Good Time, a duet in the classic country mould on which he’s joined by a wonderfully hoarse sounding Fiona Apple. Anniversaries are one thing, but for Sam Beam the horizon’s bright lights are another.

You can read a full review here.