Iron & Wine - The Shepherd’s Dog

With every new artist, there comes a point where new releases must strike a delicate balance. They must retain enough of what attracted their fans to remain palatable, while evolving enough to avoid rehashing the same thing. With this release, it seems to me that Sam has done it again. Where Woman King was sufficiently evolved from Creek Drank the Cradle, Shepherd’s Dog is advanced on the same scale. But the core is still Sam. The blues roots are still there, though some other structures have been built around his shack. White Tooth Man could have been a Woman King outtake. Carousel is sweetly psychedelic. Damn, listening to this gives me hope that someday it may be safe to drop acid again! House By The Sea is evidence that all music is One. I hear bluegrass in here, and I hear Fela Kuti. Wow. The second half of Wolves is a fantastic organic jam wound loosely around Sam’s trademark slide guitar. Boy With a Coin, do I detect another African influnce or am I oversensitized? There are lots of minor indicators. This is a much more “studio” release, although those professional studio touches don’t succeed in stealing the soul from the songs. The Devil Never Sleeps is old-school dance hall rock-n-roll. Christ, is that a sitar in Peace Beneath the City? Flightless Bird, American Mouth is an adorable loving waltz.

My recommendation? If you’re already familiar with Iron & Wine, you’re going to buy this already. If not, you should still buy it. But don’t ignore the earlier works.

Author: listener | Category: Music Reviews | September 2007