Iron and Wine- Around the Well

The first CD is carried on bare acoustic tracks peppered with banjo and steel guitar such as “Dearest Forsaken,” “Morning” and “Loud As Hope.” Interspersed are some fading reverb moments reminiscent of George Harrison on Revolver playing with the texture of the track. There’s also a mega delicate version of the Flaming Lips “Waitin’ For a Superman,” suggesting Beam’s objective is to come as close to silence as possible so as to approach some uncharted fragility of the subterranean.

The second disc’s production is cleaner and features three unheard tracks from the movie In Good Company. “Belated Promise Ring” is a tight little love song complete with finger picking and a short phrase of ragtime piano. “God Made the Automobile” evokes transient imagery and the paradisiacal “snake with a forked tongue.” The third unheard track “Homeward These Shores” is a short 1:35 and feels like it should be used as an outro to some unmade album. Other than the Flaming Lips, there is another interesting choice of cover in “Love Vigilantes,” originally by New Order. Once again, the simplicity of Iron and Wine displays a back to basics formula with the cover, showing the range of genres from which they can cull.

Around the Well spans from 2002 to ’07 and encompasses a spree of various recordings, but the album plays as a unified piece beyond the likes of most mundane compilations/greatest hits. In the end, they round out things appropriately with the hit “The Trapeze Swinger” lulling with the refrain: “Please, remember me,” and the lyrics: “Finally/And all my uphill clawing my dear/But if I make the pearly gates do my best/To make a drawing of God and Lucifer/A boy and a girl/An angel kissing on a sinner/A monkey and a man/A marching band/All around the frightened trapeze swingers.”

Label: Subpop
Release Date: 5/19/2009

-Seth Fraser