http://www.threethousand.com.au/issues/290/Win CD: Kiss Each Other CleanWho:
Iron & Wine
On:
4AD/Remote Control
Win:
We have a copy of the album to give away! To enter, email us with the subject line 'Hot'n'beardy' and attach a photo of the best beard you've ever seen. melbourne.win@rightanglestudio.com.auPrint Email Share
Sam Beam, aka Iron & Wine, is one of those sweet-voiced beardy folk men who look like they're from the past. The fact that he's boyishly handsome underneath that wild growth adds to his appeal, like he's forsaken conventional babe appeal for a more distinguished hotness.
Somehow, I&W manages to stay completely legit, all the while splashing his feet quite liberally in the mainstream - a song on the Twilight soundtrack and an M&Ms ad, for instance. This is the way of the modern ‘independent' musician it seems, keeping Beam in hair grooming products and affording him the option of living on a big ol' farm in Texas with his wife and five (!) kids.
By the sounds of Kiss Each Other Clean, he's having a lot of fun out there. Marimbas, blips and bleeps, the odd sax line and biblical references aplenty point toward a move from his trademarked introspection to a more playful, mature worldview. The press release says he's following Tom Waits' lead here, but it sounds more like an earthier, late ‘70s Paul Simon to me. If Paul Simon had a really good beard, that is. Hang on, he did!
