Iron and Wine is one of those bands I’d heard about in certain circles as I got older, so in my teenage mind I figured they had to be from at least the ’80s. When I took an AP Literature class in high school and we studied some of their lyrics for a day, it made me feel like they were an even bigger deal than I expected. A year or two later, I’d come to find out that “they” was a he, Samuel Beam, and he’d only been making music (professionally) since 2002. Kind of surprising, given the praise I’d heard him showered with, and the extent of his musical reach.

After delving into his backlog a while ago, I was shocked at how good his music was. The songs were just so consistently of a quality that you wouldn’t find many musicians taking the time and effort to reach, yet many of them were simple acoustic songs with a vocal layer or two over them. That’s when I realized that this is a man who really does take the term “singer-songwriter” to heart. And that’s probably why he has reached such a thorough level of respect amongst both musicians and music fans. There’s a beauty in his music that isn’t easy to find nowadays.

Iron and Wine has been primarily a folk project until his previous album, The Shepherd’s Dog, a fantastically unique new age/folk fusion that had a semi-serious, dark tone to it. His newest album, Kiss Each Other Clean, was announced a few months ago, and I’ve been losing my mind waiting for it since he released a thirty second preview of it on Youtube. It contained some spectacular and colorful line-based animation, continuing the theme of the phenomenal album art, all tied together with a hauntingly beautiful, lofty, vocal-heavy clip that I couldn’t get out of my mind if I tried.

That song turned out to be “Walking Far From Home,” the opener on Kiss Each Other Clean. Upon listening to the entire song, it was slightly surprising that this was the song that contained the clip from the album trailer. The song is one that begins abruptly and sounds like it might better fit the album as the final song, but somehow it works. It’s a slightly saccharine, heavily dynamic song punctuated by interesting shifts in background instruments and percussion types. The end of the song is just as glorious as the clip made it out to be, a vocal-laden wave that gently drifts us into the next song. “Me and Lazarus” is a bass-heavy tune that sorta struts along, adding new instruments with each verse. It’s one that you’ll be singing along with in no time. “Tree by the River” is a slightly more upbeat song that actually almost has a hint of The Shins to it, bolstered by bunches of breathy background vocals that add texture and depth to an otherwise more simplistic song. The fourth track, “Monkeys Uptown,” really has hints of that retro, early seventies hush-rock sound that slightly permeated the last album, and isn’t missing from this one, either. It also has a wee bit of a Psapp feel, with more eclectic instruments and sounds littered throughout the song. This song and “Rabbit Will Run” are probably nearest to the tone of the previous album. This one is in 3/4 time and has a darker, slightly tribal feel to it, along with a couple wind instruments. “Godless Brother In Love” is the slowest, most ballad-y song on the album, but it’s exceedingly beautiful; the kind of song that’s so pretty you just get swept up and lose yourself in it, the hushed acoustic guitar and piano interweaving like a fine stitching with the breadth of tender voices harmonizing behind them. This is music.

One thing I have to say about Iron and Wine is that I’ve rarely heard another musician take so much time and put so much effort into crafting vocal melodies. It’s practically a flawless victory. They’re so simple and effective that you almost feel like you’ve already heard them and you never want them to end. Sam Beam’s voice is so smooth, if he slapped you in the face with it, the spot would be freshly shaven and lightly glazed with honey.

The music on Kiss Each Other Clean isn’t as textural or indie as The Shepherd’s Dog was; in a lot of ways it’s a cleaner, more refined album. That being said, I think The Shepherd’s Dog had more consistently high quality songs, and more songs that you could repeatedly listen to. That album is gold, through and through. This album is universally great, but there are a few songs I might skip if I put it on. They’re different, though; they have different motivations, different intentions, etc. Either way, this is an album overflowing with awe-inspiring moments of beauty, wonderfully designed melodies, a great variety of shades, flavors, and textures, and some hot grooves, too; the work of one of the modern generations most prolific singer-songwriters. You’d be a fool to not experience this music.