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The Shepherd’s Dog
Iron and Wine

Headlining the Lo-Fi, Indie-Folk and the New Weird America movement, Iron and Wine (the pseudonym of Folk God, Sam Bean) has no doubt cultivated a cult-like and devout fan base thanks to his nonstop touring and now classic, genre defining debut ‘The Creek Drank the Cradle’ and its epic follow-up ‘Our Endless Numbered Days’.

While Beam’s hoarse, crisp vocals and acoustic orchestra of nylon-stringed guitars, banjos and slide guitar still form the central part of Iron and Wine’s signature sound, it remotely describes his latest offering ‘The Shepherd’s Dog’, a masterwork in its own right. Beam has been forever searching and seeking new musical terrain to explore and make his own, as indicated by his influx of fleshy, pulsating and experimental EPs: The Woman King and the collaboration with Calexico In the Reins. Those very experimentations reveal The Shepherd’s Dog to be a majestic work of genius – Sam Beam’s true brainchild, with top-notch instrumentation and song-writing continued in the vein of Nick Drake, Elliot Smith, Bob Dylan and Ralph Stanley and a strangely sinister, downbeat vibe that is something new for Iron and Wine.

The bleak musical journey portrayed on the album is intense, with a climactic midsection, a build up in speed followed by a relaxation with the delivery of ballads and revelatory vocal moments. Feedback drenched string stretching alongside tack piano fully compliments the haunting vocals on “Pagan Angel and a Borrowed Car” – a catchy opener suggestive of mysterious happenings. Then unfolds a chain reaction with Beam whispering high-pitched melodies on “White Tooth Man” and the jazz-orientated “Innocent Bones”, while a relationship of blues meets folk meets caveman-drummers establishes on “Wolves (Song of the Shepherd’s Dog)”. Perhaps the standout track is the concluding track “Flightless Bird, American Mouth”, which crescendos into a soaring and uplifting chorus in the company of vocal harmonizing layered with piano arpeggios.

Imagery is still prevalent in the lyrical content of the songs – a trademark of Beam’s as he rides his own train through the countryside. The fresh and inspired lyrics of “Boy with a Coin” paint a vivid picture of what Beam perceives to be innocence and beauty, with its suggesting handclaps and wah-wah guitars weeping in the backdrop. While politics are miserably considered on “Resurrection Fern”, a sense of cynicism and family tension is exposed in “The Devil Never Sleeps”.

While our expectations of another bed-room-acoustic-epic may seem to be disregarded by Beam upon The Shepherd’s Dog, pleasure and approval still set in our ears.

I'm Muneeb Ejaz. I don't do personal diaries, I don't do emotions, I do music journalism. I created this blog because of the lack of opportunity in Qatar to get involved in something like a music journal or school newspaper. But the passion never dies. So here are my play lists and reviews, up close and personal...