Album Review - Iron and Wine

Iron and Wine “Around the Well”
Sub Pop Records, 2009

To music fans, very few things are as irritating as rarities and b-sides collections. The only worse things are concert DVDs and solo-projects. All of these things have one particular purpose: milk as much money out of the fact that people like your band while having to put forward the least amount of effort. These projects normally come out in between releases (especially when a follow-up CD is overdue) and serve to satisfy the consumer without having to go through the process of writing or recording new material.

It has been two years since the release of “The Shepherd’s Dog” and Iron and Wine is in desperate need to keep the attention of the twenty-something’s that scooped up their music in the aftermath of their contribution to the Garden State soundtrack. That attention grabber is “Around the Well”: a two-disc rarities and b-sides collection that spans Sam Beam’s entire career as an acoustic performer.

Unlike most rarities collections, many of the songs on this CD are actually good enough to put on proper releases. Songs like “Sacred Vision”, “Communion Cups and Someone’s Coat” and “Love Vigilantes” sound just as good as any other track that Iron and Wine has released. Some tracks (like “Friends they are Jewels” and “Hickory”) are more lo-fi than others. However, the grittiness of Beam’s earlier recordings lends itself well to this kind of sound.

As a whole, this album does a great job at bridging the gap between Iron and Wine releases. Someone who isn’t an avid fan could put in this record and listen to it from start to finish with at least moderate contentment. In an attempt to build appreciation for “Around the Well” I have prepared a list of rarities and b-sides collections, solo projects, and DVD’s from other musicians (ranging from horrible to unpleasantly mediocre).

-Bright Eyes – “A Collection of Songs Written and Recorded 1995 and 1997”
-Death Cab for Cutie- “You Can Play These Songs with Chords”
-Headphones – David Bazan’s side project from Pedro the Lion
-Thom Yorke’s solo CD that came out between “Hail to the Thief” and “In Rainbows”
-The Blood Brother’s DVD that I got as a companion purchase with “Crimes”… whatever that piece of junk was called

…that became a bitter rant toward the end. I apologize.

(7.5/10)

Iron and Wine on Myspace