Iron and Wine - The Shepherd's Dog

Iron and Wine first appealed to me because of its sole member's incredibly understated arrangements and intelligent lyrics on songs like "Jesus the Mexican Boy," "Naked as We Came," and "Sunset Soon Forgotten." The minimal instrumentation served as an asset—not an easy task to pull off. A solo artist playing one instrument can very easily sound like something important is missing, or as if they're simply strumming along to lyrics.

The Shepherd's Dog Hits

Then he teamed up with Calexico for a much more upbeat alt.country-ish record. Now, back to his own devices, Iron and Wine (a.k.a. Sam Beam) returns with The Shepherd's Dog, which falls somewhere in between. Although this time, Beam has decidedly beefed up his arrangements. There is a lot going on in this record. What sometimes feels like soft spoken sonic chaos occasionally manages to order itself enough to not turn into overload.

On "White Tooth Man," the song spins away, though, taken over by so many contrapuntal electric guitars and a distant repetitive keyboard section. Luckily, it's followed by "Lovesong of the Buzzard"—much easier on the ears. It’s this level of balance that carries the record through to its ultimate apex. "Noone is the savior they would like to be," he sings, followed by a nearly well-buried Rhodes organ. Eventually, the chaotic organ glides up and down arpeggios behind a strolling, melodic slide guitar line.

And It Strikes a Balance

This delicate balance between chaos and order continues on songs like "Carousel." This tune sounds like its spinning underwater, and the effect almost serves to drown out Beam's intensely lovely lyrics, but not quite. Then, in contrast, we get "House By the Sea," a less chaotic tune dripping with oceanic imagery, and mimicking musically the moody changing of tides.

"Innocent Bones" is a nicely arranged tune, wherein the piano enters at the perfect time. Here, Beam's intelligent, biting lyrics return with lines like, "There ain’t a penthouse Christian wants the pain of the scab / but they all want the scar."

Another Collaboration With Calexico

"Wolves (Song of the Shepherd's Dog)" features former collaborators Calexico, and stands out as one of the most shining tracks on the disc, probably hence the album title. The tune's stuttery percussion set against decending, easy flowing harmonies show off some of Iron and Wine's finest songwriting skills.

Then, suddenly, "Resurrection Fern" appears like what can only be called old school Iron and Wine. Simple, soft, scant instrumentation, a shaker instead of drums, a repetitive guitar part full of hammer-on bass lines, a little harmony and audible narrative lyrics. "Like stubborn boys with big green eyes, we'll see everything / in the timid shade of the autumn leaves and the buzzard’s wing."

The Bottom Line

Still, there's so much music going on in this record that even Beam’s great, somewhat mythical lyrics fall into the background. Some of the sounds he pulled out for this record could be deleted without losing any artistic merit, though I suppose it's easy for someone who isn't the artist to make that call. That said, none of the instrumentation ever breaches the arena of the overkill. I'm not entirely sure that it's necessary, but really, who cares? It works.