[877E] IRON AND WINE THE SHEPHERD'S DOG (mp3@114.04mb@外語)

superday55

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Iron & Wine have shown an impressive work ethic since the releaseof The Creek Drank the Cradle in 2002. A flood of singles, EPs, andalbums, each with high levels of quality, have made Iron & Wine andSam Beam stars in the indie rock world. Introspective, leaning towardmorose, and heavily bearded stars, but glittering just the same. 2007'sThe Shepherd's Dog goes a long way toward validating all the attentionI&W have been getting; it's their best, most diverse, and mostlistenable record yet, as Beam and co. take another leap away from thelo-fi, one-dude-in-a-bedroom beginnings of the group. Here Beamsurrounds himself with a large cast of musicians, and they blanket thesongs with a wide array of instrumentation, everything from accordionsto Hammond organ, piano to backward guitars, vibraphone to bassharmonica. Nothing too strange in the everything-goes world of indierock circa 2007, but for Iron & Wine, it's a widescreen revelation.Perhaps working with Calexico on 2005's In the Reins inspired Beam touse all the colors in the paint box. Maybe it's a natural progression.Either way it leads to an inspiringly lush album, full of imaginativeand rich arrangements. Not to say Beam has cast aside the vitalelements that made the band so interesting to begin with; his whisperedvocals still conjure shadowy mystery, the songs are still melancholy ashell at their core, and as always there's a lingering sense of Southerngothic foreboding shrouding the proceedings. The increased productionvalues take these elements and goose them. The recognizably I&Wsongs like the dark and creepy "Peace Beneath the City" or the gloomycountry ballad "Resurrection Fern" sound bigger and have a differentkind of impact. Take "Boy with a Coin," which in the past would havebeen spare, spooky, and a bit insular, but now is huge and spookythanks to the propulsive handclaps and atmospheric backward guitarsthat would make Daniel Lanois jealous. Along with these pumped-upvariations on the band's classic sound, there are songs you'd neverimagine hearing on an Iron & Wine album. The danceable (!) "Houseby the Sea" has jumpy Afro-pop underpinnings and a bit of wild abandonin Beam's more passionate-than-usual vocals; "Wolves (Song of theShepherd's Dog)" is a funky mix of David Essex's "Rock On," abackwoods-sounding Meters, and of all things, dub reggae; and mostshockingly, "The Devil Never Sleeps" actually rocks with a rollickingbarroom piano, a loping tempo, bongos, and lyrics about nothing on theradio, leading to a sound that's ironically perfect for the radio. Bythe end of the record, you may feel a few pangs for the discarded,sparse sound of early Iron & Wine, but the beauty and majesty ofThe Shepherd's Dog will pave right over them, and you should be able toenjoy the masterful songcraft, inspired performance, and note-perfectproduction with no guilt and a fair bit of awe.
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