Kiss Each Other Clean by Iron & Wine combines Sam Beam’s southern gothic imagery with a more lush pop rock sound. His previous album, The Shepherd’s Dog, showed hints of this change, going from a soft spoken singer song writer to genteel rock ‘n’ roll front man. Tree By the River, Walking Far from Home and Rabbit Will Run are stand outs. Big Burned Hand is driven by a deep, funky bass line with some angry lyrics. The album fades out with a shimmering jam on Your Fake Name Is Good Enough for Me. Themes of scorn, forgiveness, sin, nature and catharsis run throughout. He’s still a folk singer telling stories in his songs.
The sound and production have matured, and it seems curious as to what he’ll do next.
Note, the Deluxe version comes with two extra songs, Black Candle and Lean Into the Light. The former feels like it could have fit into the album with similar bass lines and progressions, but Lean Into the Light feels soulful, as if it was something to make the indie rock kids sway to the backing harmonies.
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