The Shepherd's Dog - IRON & WINE

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

On "The Shepherd's Dog," Iron & Wine's Sam Beam takes the expansive sound he developed during his collaboration with Calexico and manages to make it even bigger. The result is an album of tremendous fullness: The sound is dense, the lyrics are complex, and the production is top-drawer. For the hip kids who recently decided that Jerry Garcia was a cool dude after all, this album is sure to be held up as an example of the Dead man's influence. The opener, "Pagan Angel and a Borrowed Car," seems simple and melodic until careful listens reveal a complex arrangement underneath. Elsewhere, "Boy With a Coin" gets upbeat with hand claps, and things get downright strange on the Eastern-sounding "White Tooth Man." Throughout, Beam manages to prove half of the old adage, you can never be too rich, at least when it comes to sound. —Cortney Harding.

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