Kiss Each Other Clean by Iron & Wine

This, the fourth studio release by American singer-songwriter Sam Beam A.K.A Iron & Wine, follows his 2007 musical reinvention that was the critically acclaimed album, The Shepherd’s Dog. That release saw Beam switch from the simple, raw acoustic sound that he had made his name with, to much broader and lusher music, with incredible results. Kiss Each Other Clean looks to build on this success and complete Iron & Wine’s transition from acoustic balladeer to indie hero, making it both a much more ambitious and much riskier album than its predecessor.

The album opens with “Walking Far From Home”, a comfortingly familiar ballad, with lyrics that roam as widely as the title, and echoing voids filled with electronic clicks and whirls of sound. It’s followed by “Me and Lazarus”, with Beam’s layered falsetto duelling with saxophone in a stripped down funk tune musing on the traditional Iron & Wine themes of religion and lost opportunities.

Back in October of last year, Beam announced that the new album would sound like “mid-70s FM radio-friendly” music, and both funk and jazz have had a clear impact on the sound of this album. Feathery jazz flute drifts over the African drums at the closing of centrepiece track “Rabbit Will Run”, and closer “Your Fake Name Is Good Enough For Me” brings in a horn section to create a brash, funky but pensive track that rounds off the album superbly.

Kiss Each Other Clean, however, transcends a mere pop-funk record through Beam’s amazing lyrical ability. Whether through allegory like the coupling of the lion and the lamb in “Big Burned Hand”, the powerful opposing couplets that close “Your Fake Name Is Good Enough For Me”, or simply an incredibly evocative line like “As far as I can tell, the night won't compensate the blind” on “Godless Brother In Love”, your attention in grabbed tightly by Beam right at the start of the album, given a good lyrical shake up, and not let go until right at the very end.

On this album then, Sam Beam has created something that combines the very best of his lyrical talent and musical skill from his first two albums, the musical expansion and experimentation of The Shepherd’s Dog, and excellent production techniques to create an album that truly establishes Iron & Wine as one of the best indie acts of the past decade.

Scores (out of 10)

Lyrics: 9
Vocals: 7
Instrumentals: 8
Album arrangement: 8
Overall: 8

Favourite track - Difficult choice, but probably 'Rabbit Will Run'