Iron & Wine The Shepherd's Dog by: Justin Pearsall Tue:02-Oct-07 Label: Sub Pop Year: 2007 WB rating 89 out of 100

2004’s Our Endless Numbered Days, on the back of rave reviews from tastemakers, made Iron & Wine a drawcard name amongst the indie faithful. Predominately focused on the intimacy of Sam Beam’s, the man behind Iron & Wine, performance, the record achieved a great deal with subtlety and detail. Yet over time, along with many albums of its kind, Our Endless Numbered Days bumped into a glass ceiling, unable to free itself from the self-imposed limitations of guitar and voice, suffering sameness.

While his fourth EP, Woman King, added electric guitars to the fold, it was largely Iron & Wines’s work with Calexico on 2005’s In The Reins that suggested an awareness of such limitations and potentially a move towards a larger sound. A varied collection of alt-country, folk and blues, the split band EP proved that not only could Beam’s little-boy-lost vocals and finger picked guitar still shine against a bigger backdrop, they would be enlivened by Calexico’s tasteful backing.

So with the release of his third album, The Shepherd’s Dog, it is perhaps no surprise that Iron & Wine is no longer a singular effort, the band members now including Calexico pals Joey Burns and Paul Niehaus and jazz musicians Matt Lux. And while the signature sound of introspective vocals and palliative composition remains a feature of Iron & Wine, the collaboration between Beam and band has yielded a more energetic element that dissipates any concerns about homogeneity, allowing the breadth of the songs to flourish.

Album opener ‘Pagan Angel and a Borrowed Car’ provides a warning as to this change. Its rhythmic blues guitar lines are subdued, produced as if played from the other end of the hall, before the song splashes out in tribal rhythm. Beam’s voice floats over the new soundscape, classical piano arpeggios and backwards guitar interplaying with strings, the elements fusing together to produce something as powerful as it is alluring. Perhaps the most impressive thing about this transition into full band territory is how fully realised this vision is. Second track ‘White Tooth Man’ stomps along, merging native rhythms, droning elements and exotic electric guitars in a way reminiscent of Kid A-era Radiohead, Beam’s leap from guy-and-guitar achieved without losing an inch.

While songs like ‘Pagan Angel and a Borrowed Car’ and ‘White Tooth Man’ are undoubtedly darker and more aggressive than their predecessors, The Shepherd’s Dog is unmistakably an Iron & Wine album. ‘Lovesong of the Buzzard’ reaffirms Beam’s ability to pen exquisite ballads, a talent demonstrated on Our Endless Numbered Days track ‘Naked as we Came’, and ‘House By the Sea’ improves upon the minor sound that permeates In Our Reins. Through these changes, this new wall of sound that encompasses him, Beam has clung to the characteristics that define him as a songwriter. And as much as the backing band must be credited for the success of The Shepherd’s Dog, it is Iron & Wine’s songwriting that comes to the forefront – only now its diversity and scope are widened to magnificent proportions.