The album was a strictly low-fidelity affair, a bedroomrecording which placed no distance between artist and listener, Beam'ssoothing voice unmediated by ostentatious production. His gentle,literate and introspective songs recalled the best work of Nick Drakeand Neil Young, without imitating either. Apparently the low-fi soundof the first record was less of an aesthetic choice than one offinancial necessity, as every Iron & Wine release since that firstalbum has added greater and greater technical sophistication to theproduction. With the release of the Woman King EP, Beam takes aclear and deliberate step into indie mainstream, as it were, producinga six-song suite with a big band sound, lots of composition and layersof vocal harmony. The gentle banjo and guitar are still there, but arenow joined by piano, violin, electric guitar and percussion. First off,without sounding like too much of a humbug, I'll go ahead and profferthe opinion that this bigger production style just doesn't work forBeam's intimate folk songs. Second, two albums and two EPs into hiscareer, Sam Beam's songs are starting to feel a little too familiar forcomfort. Playing this album directly after listening to 2004's Our Endless Numbered Days,there is definitely a formula behind Beam's songs. He's got arepertoire of about four or five tempos and chord progressions that hekeeps recycling, varying the instrumentation and key between eachtrack. A certain feeling of deja vu sets in after listening to Iron& Wine for a while, and while some might call this a "signaturestyle," I am tempted to dismiss it as repetition and self-plagiarism.Lyrically, this EP is all about the female of the species, with songsabout woman kings, "Jezebel" ("She was born to be the woman we couldblame"), "My Lady's House" and Lilith ("We were born to fuck eachother/One way or another"). The thematic conceit is interesting, butcan't distract from the uniform quality of these songs. The moments ofpseudo-Appalachain twanging heard throughout the album are toopredictable for anyone who has listened to Iron & Wine's pastalbums. As a brief spacer in anticipation of a new full-length album,the EP works well enough, but the new emphasis placed on the cluttered,mainstream blues-folk composition is an altogether unconvincing movefor Iron & Wine. I won't be surprised if Beam and company continueto rack up the critical accolades, and perhaps they are deserved, butI'm going to have to tune out from this point forward. samples:
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