Track Review: Iron & Wine

So first, a promise, or pact, or whatever you want to call it. In the coming weeks I hope to return to writing about a wider spectrum of artists other than the likes of Andrew Bird, Iron & Wine and Petra Haden. Although they are great, I've been sitting on a few tracks that I wanted to post/review, and lack of time has lead me to only write about my most favoritests ever, because if I only have so much time, I'll be writing about my favorites. But keep in tune.

But in the meantime, I've been meaning to post about this track for quite some time. It was about one year ago that I only owned The Creek Drank The Cradle by Iron & Wine. I read reviews for his second LP Our Endless Numbered Days and I was turned off by the mention of a crisper, more studio sound (which in retrospect I should have expected since his first album was recorded at home). I was afraid that his gentle sound would get lost in overpoduction and foolishly ignored the album.

Then for my birthday a group of us went out to see In Good Company, a cute film about business change in which I decided that Topher Grace might actually be a fairly decent actor, as he some how channeled the anxious intensity of Jack Lemmon a la The Apartment.

Within that film appeared two Iron & Wine tracks that forced me to realize that the new album would be, in fact, quite brilliant, and not lose anything in a proper studio. I was immediately grabbed by the featured tracks "Naked As We Came" and "Sunset Soon Forgotten." But hidden away at the end of the film is a brilliant non-album track called "The Trapeze Swinger."

Now I have admitted to some serious weaknesses in the past. Things that involve some decent violin fiddlin' in general grabs my attention, as does some hushed twangy tunes, as do pretty vocal harmonies. This track grabs two of the three right there and slaps me silly with 9 minutes of all that action, and proves without a doubt just what Sam Beam can do to his songs in the studio.

The guitar line is what you'd come to expect from Beam, but the continual oooo's just really grab you. But the real clincher for me on this track is the percussion. The track starts with a quiet rattling of, I don't know what it is, but it twinkles and rattles randomly and beautifully, along with a light stomping beat clomping along at a laid back stead pace. The percussion ebbs and flows through the track, pulling in new rhythms, dropping others, generally going back and forth.

Halfway through, when you would expect the song to fade, the bass takes on an unusual riff, a female vocalist (Sarah Beam?) hops in and you quickly learn that the song is going to continue for a bit.

Around 6 minutes in my worst fear becomes my absolute delight. Some sort of electronic noise repeats for about 30 second, and my first reaction is "Wait just one second here! Don't go throwing none of that crap into my Iron & Wine" but quickly I see that he won't allow it to take over his song, as it fades out to allow the piano to climb up, in much the same fashion and architecture that the bass had halfway through the song.

As the song climaxes, you almost forget the beautiful ooo's that pulled you into the song, and thank god they fade Beam's voice and the piano to let them back in to lead the song to a close. Thirty second prior to the close, as you're expecting a very slow fade, a pan pipe jumps in, and we drop out completely on the cue of a piano thunk.

This track is a dream come true for fans. My CD player gets tired of my repeating tracks like "Naked As We Came," which clock in under 3 minutes but demand more time in the atmosphere. My first thought was that Beam couldn't keep you content for a near ten minute track, but on the contrary you're only just ready for the song to end when it does. And if you're like me, you probably are tracking back to hear it one, two... or maybe even 10 times. Hopefully you won't annoy whomever you're living with at the time. Luckily my spouse is also transfixed by the lovely sounds of Beam.

And the result of the movie: I've copies and burned Our Endless Numbered Days twice since then, and yesterday I finally went out and picked up my very own legitimate copy of the album, because the fact is, he deserves it.

Now you go download this track, lean back and go "aaaaahhhhhhhhhh..."

Iron & Wine - The Trapeze Swinger