Iron & Wine - Our Endless Numbered Days (Sub Pop, 2004)

Iron & Wine
Our Endless Numbered Days
Sub Pop
2004

Rating: 7.5 old calendars out of 10

Iron & Wine is Sam Beam, film school professor in Florida by day and amazing singer and performer by night. To call him this generation’s Cat Stevens might be somewhat apt, and a good basis on which to draw comparisons of this man and his ridiculously beautiful voice. Plenty or other comparisons are floating around out there - from Nick Drake to CSN&Y to Palace to Lou Barlow – and each of these have probably had a hand in influencing the songwriting of Beam. His songs are beautiful in their simplicity, where equal importance is placed just as much on the lack of instruments at times than an overabundance of them. His first album, “The Creek Drank the Cradle”, was a very even-paced affair, but this record finds Beam branching out a little – some drums and percussion here and there to speed the tempo up in places, but not enough so that it would alienate his already established fan base. Beam has more than proved that his first record was not just a fluke, a one-off by an unknown artist that sent those educated in his sound rushing to the store to purchase his album; instead, with his triumphant return and sophomore effort he’s telling everyone that he’s in it for the long haul, and for that I am extremely happy.