Iron & Wine

I went on an Iron & Wine binge last month. I don't know if I should be embarrassed. After reading online that Samuel Beam, a.k.a, Iron & Wine, has had his stuff on Grey's Anatomy, The L Word, and featured prominently in the teen hit Twilight, I begin to doubt myself. -- Is the music really that saccharine? I guess Beam does walk the line. Anyhow, it sounded good to me in January.

I indulged in repeated listenings of the first three albums: The Creek Drank the Cradle, Our Endless Numbered Days and The Shepherd's Dog.

I got onto the current Iron & Wine jag by listening to the fourth album, Kiss Each Other Clean, again by accident. I had downloaded the latest iteration of iTunes; and because it has a radically different look I was randomly scrolling through my music to get a handle on things when I came upon Kiss Each Other Clean. Summer before last I heard one its tracks on KEXP. I think it was "Your Fake Name Is Good Enough For Me." I liked it. And in instances where I hear something I like, I first turn to the Seattle Public Library. I checked it out; imported it to my iTunes; listened to it once or twice; and then, because it timed out of my "Recently Added" playlist, I forgot about it.

So I listened to Kiss Each Other Clean again. I think I was puttering around the apartment on a Saturday morning. It was pleasant, unobtrusive; very little backbeat to stir the animal; sort of James Taylor for the Williamsburg crowd, or -- a more complimentary comparison -- a Postmillennial Bless the Weather. I went to the library web site and put the first three Iron & Wine albums on hold.

"Faded From The Winter" is off the first album, The Creek Drank The Cradle; it's a fair representation of the songs you'll find on the first three albums.