Artist | Iron & Wine

Grade | B

What Zach Gase thinks:

Folk rocker Sam Beam, better known as Iron & Wine, has continued to further evolve his sound on his first album since 2007’s critically acclaimed “Shepherd’s Dog.”

Known for his stripped down instrumentation and whisper-soft vocals, the Zach Galifianakis-esque bearded singer, experiments with different sounds on his latest album, “Kiss Each Other Clean.”

Iron & Wine’s songwriting carries this 10-track opus. His songwriting consists of many metaphors, non-traditional song structures, and even some biblical references.

The opening track, “Walking Far From Home,” is a phenomenal folk song that showcases Beam’s songwriting ability in which he uses juxtapositions to describe his journey in the song. “Tree By the River” is another great track that has a similar sound with harmonizing vocals complementing his lead vocals.

His sound changes pretty drastically on “Monkeys Uptown,” which has electronic-inspired drums, and his dubbed vocals give the track a very eerie feeling. The album’s highlight “Rabbit Will Run” also features a similar sound to “Monkeys.” The track takes the listener through a bizarre, abstract, metaphor-laced journey.

Not everything on “Kiss Each Other Clean” is a hit however. “Godless Brother in Love” is rather forgettable, while the frantic, almost jazzy-horns on “Big Burned Hand” are a bit much.

The seven-minute closer, “Your Fake Name is Good Enough for Me,” also features horns, which work a lot better on the epic finale than they do on the previously mentioned, “Big Burned Hand.”

Four albums deep and Iron & Wine is not only seeing more commercial success (“Kiss Each Other Clean” debuted at no. 2 on the Billboard top 200 charts), but he is continuing to evolve his sound without changing up his style too much. He is without question one of contemporary folk’s top players.