Like many people,
Sam Beam
had a tough time during the COVID-19 pandemic. He found it hard to write music while struggling with all the various mental and physical hardships that were a part of it.
Iron & Wine
were represented during the time by archival releases, but it wasn't until he had an EP of
Lori McKenna
covers (released as the
Lori
EP in 2023) under his belt that
Beam
was able to start working on his own songs again. Perhaps because of the time lag, the songs he began working on reflected a more positive tone, focusing on acceptance, the need for human connection, and even joy. The results became the 2024 album
Light Verse
, likely the lightest, most playful album in the
I&W
catalog.
recorded the basic tracks with a small band in a Laurel Canyon studio, then added string overdubs in a later session. This strategy gives the record both an intimate and wide-open feeling that melds perfectly with the lyrical approach that could be described as expansive introspection. It's not a million miles away from earlier
albums that added more orchestration to the band's usual template, but unlike them there is an airy, feather-light feel to the arrangements.
floats above it all as usual with his calmly majestic vocals, swooping over the sawed strings on the rambling opener "You Never Know," lightly stepping through "Cutting It Close," scraping up a little bit of angsty growl on "Tears That Don't Matter," and duetting nimbly with a suitably restrained
Fiona Apple
on "All in Good Time." He even proves on the surprisingly bubbly "Sweet Talk" that he's not a bad pop singer either. Over the course of the record, the words and music, the vocals and arrangements, all come together to form a mosaic of
Astral Weeks
-era
Van Morrison
, early (and pastoral)
Rod Stewart
, and every singer/songwriter with the skill to build their songs from the inside out to make something fragile yet monumental.
has done this kind of thing before, but he seems to be digging a little deeper lyrically here, while crafting arrangements that are truly lush and lovely, better than any on previous
albums. That's a high bar, but he soars over it with plenty of room to spare, and in the end
turns out to be one of the most enjoyable, varied, and well-crafted of the band's records. ~ Tim Sendra