IRON & WINE
Woman King (Sub-Pop)
Reviewed by Erick Mertz

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The quality that Sam Beam of Iron and Wine possesses that makes him one of the preeminent songwriters in music today is his ability to embrace a sensual feminine bend without compromising his standards in forging raw, heartening folk rock. Most performers wouldn't approach the line that he so deftly explores. Beam, a southern bred musician and filmmaker, is becoming a creative entity synonymous with the kind of emotionally provocative craft that made artists like Leonard Cohen and Nick Drake multi-generational.

The third effort by Iron and Wine, Woman King might only be an EP, but that certainly doesn't mean it's lacking for great songs. Packed in the six tracks is a soft treatise on matriarchy in "Woman King," sexuality in "My Lady's House" and what feels like a hymn to lost, misunderstood love in "Jezebel." These are songs the likes of which won't be captured anywhere else. Beam's falsetto voice, straining and partial, is haunting -- laid over a solo acoustic guitar and banjo, it reeks of foretold reckoning. His song "Gray Stables" is a cinematic Act III told through music; in film, it would serve as the calm before the stormy conclusion.

While 2004's Our Endless Numbered Days seemed to be itself a complete album, the zeitgeist of Woman King only serves to deepen its predecessor. Beam is an agent of delight and doom, free range in a pre-packaged music world. The hope is that Iron and Wine will continue on its road to creating a catalog - like Drake and Cohen - worthy of passing down.

© 2005 - Erick Mertz