CD Review: "The Shepard's Dog"

This isn't really a new release, but I've been too busy actually listening to this album to write a review until now. I honestly can't say enough in praise of the latest record from Iron & Wine, "The Shepard's Dog." It really is the creative blossoming of an already well-established artist who's whispery voice has produced some of the finest roots-esque gems in the last decade or so ("Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" aside). However, this album is anything but easily labeled under the "Folk" section at your local Sam Goody. This is an aural treat that refuses to be pigeonholed into simple genres, and may very well leave you absolutely breathless at some points.

On "The Shepard's Dog," Sam Beam has created a vibe that is both familiar and exotic, frequently pairing his signature vocal stylings with evocative African drum beats that seem to (surprisingly) complement everything that we're used to hearing from Iron & Wine. It hearkens back to Paul Simon ("Graceland") who almost single-handedly sparked the "world music" phenomenon by introducing the west to relatively unknown artists (Ladysmith Black Mambazo). Mr. Simon's ability to blend his songcraft with new and exciting musical dichotomies is one that Mr. Beam seems to have studied.

Standout tracks on this oeuvre include "Pagan Angel and a Borrowed Car," "Wolves (Song of the Shepard's Dog," "The Devil Never Sleeps" and the lyrical content on "Innocent Bones" is probably some of Iron & Wine's most original. ("Cain bought a blade from some witch at the window, Abel bought a bag of weed" "There ain't a penthouse Christian wants the pain of the scab but they all want the scar.")

Having cast aside a lot of the lo-fi-esque production that can be found on earlier EPs from Iron & Wine, the studio creativity on this album is superb with the eerie vocals on "Carousel" and the Shankar-style sitar that creates a floaty sort of drone on "White Tooth Man." Ironically, this might be the only criticism I have of this album; it does occasionally rely heavily on the almost jam-band practice of long passages of droning guitars and floaty vocals. Several songs on this record (Tracks 1, 2, 9) seem to chug along with hardly any harmonic motion leaving the attentive listener a little tired after a minute or two.

After all of the lush, layered soundscapes of the first half of the album, Iron & Wine becomes the Wizard and clicks your metaphorical heels for you and carries you back home on "Resurrection Fern." Maybe it's the stylistic familiarity of this track that reminds you of why you fell in love with this band in the first place, but this song may very well be the best thing Iron & Wine has ever written. The harmonies on the chorus are pristine (undoubtedly provided by Beam's equally talented sister, Sarah) and the lyrics are incredibly evocative, acting as a sort of capstone to the Biblical imagery spread throughout Beam's body of work.

"And we'll undress by the ashes of the fire
Our tender bellies are wound around in baling wire
All the more pair of under water pearls
Than the oak tree and its resurrection fern"

If you must pick one song on this entire LP, make it that one.

I look forward to wherever Iron & Wine will go from this point. The options are endless and the destination will undoubtedly be as surprising and sublime as "The Shepard's Dog."