The Shepherd's Dog
Iron and Wine's last release (not including the collaborative In the Reins EP which featured songs by Iron and Wine's Sam Beam and performances by both Iron and Wine and Calexico together) was 2005's Woman King, a 6-song EP which distinguished itself from its predecessors with a deepening integration of spiraling, dense opuses with intimate confessionals. On The Shepherd's Dog this integration is complete. Sam Beam has confessed to finding spiritual inspiration in Tom Waits' pièce de résistance, Swordfishtrombones, an album with which Waits upended his previous strategies and forged a new musical language for himself. Recorded by Sam with the assistance of longtime producer Brian Deck and engineer Colin Studebaker, The Shepherd's Dog succeeds in accomplishing a similar cathartic recasting of the artist's intentions. The arrangements here are kaleidoscopic and rich. "White Tooth Man" rocks with a desperate, menacing intensity while "Boy with a Coin", the album's first single, is darkly playful with a handclap hook tumbling under its cascading melody. The whole album breathes. Its seductive rhythms percolate and undulate, from the Psych-Bhangra-redux of "Pagan Angel and a Borrowed Car" to the album's last dance a waltz "Flightless Bird, American Mouth". Compositionally, it is Iron and Wine's most ambitious and accomplished recording to date. It's also the most satisfying.
Following a one-record hiatus to collaborate with Tucson collective Calexico on 2005's In The Reins, Iron & Wine (Sam Beam, that is) recoils to the earnestness and intimacy that embodied his first two records, his cerebral words and phrases tunneled beneath an orchestra of guitar, banjo, keyboards, and strings. More definitive than ever, the rhythm and percussion complement Beam's voice, a lulling, almost eerie tone that occasionally recalls John Lennon's early solo work, especially on delicate tracks like the bluesy "Wolves (Songs of the Shepherd's Dog" and "Carousel," with its veiled references to Iraq. Those raised on the lo-fi routine of Beam's earlier work will find rawness and sanctity in the more upbeat selections: The CSN folk-rock of "House by the Sea" and "Boy with a Coin" and the atmospheric beauty of "Pagan Angel and a Borrowed Car" and Shepherd's best song, "Lovesong of the Buzzard." With an organ swirling about and a slide guitar adding gentle flourishes, Beam concedes that "no one is the savior they would like to be," without realizing that, when it comes to fluent music and pristine storytelling, perhaps he is. --Scott Holter More from Iron & Wine 
Our Endless Numbered Days
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The Creek Drank the Cradle
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In the Reins, with Calexico
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Woman King
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The Sea & the Rhythm
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The Shepherd's Dog Accessories
 Cease to Begin
In Rainbows
Our Endless Numbered Days
The Reminder
Boxer
Challengers
Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
The Creek Drank the Cradle
Vampire Weekend
In Our Nature
The Shepherd's Dog Reviews
It is simply thisif your last and enjoyable experience with Iron and Wine was "Our Endless Numbered Days" this attempt at artistic growth is uneven, over-produced, and too far from the original to feel like a bridge from the quirky lyrics, modulated voice, and understated production to be recognizable as an extension of Sam Beam's original effort. To put it simply, if you liked "OEND" and are expecting more of the same, or even recognizably similar, you will be sorely disappointed. I am not pretending that this is a revelatory review but I would like to add one thought to the appraisal of this work.
At first I didn't like this album. But has really grown on me. I don't think that it's too over produced. Like I said it took a little while but this album grew on me. I was like "Okay I'm done listening to Iron and Wine. I remember Elliott Smith got the same crap from all his fans when Figure 8 came out.
They take chances- chances that always work for me. The combo of fabulous lyrics and great melodies remind me of a new artist Arrica Rose I just came across in her new CD La La Lost Both alternative folk with uniques styles. This is what I would expect from Iron and Wine- another great album.
Keep this up. But I've finally found a disc that I not only like, but can't seem to stop listening to. Iron and Wine, on this album, adeptly push the envelope of the genre, incorporating creative instrumentation, rhythms, catchy and digestible melodies, and even energy (). Bravo, Sam Beam, you've converted a skeptic. I generally can't stand this whole singer/songwriter guy-with-a-guitar-and-no-energy move in musicso dull, packed with sensitive shoegazers lacking self-esteem and passion.
Other highlights for me include "Wolves (Songs of the Shepherd's Dog)", which reminds me of Peter Gabriel's world music sound, just beautiful, and the brooding "Peace Beneath the City". set, primarily bringing songs from "The Shepherd's Dog", and it was one of the best sets of Bonnaroo for me. "Lovesong of the Buzzard" is equally entrancing. (As an added bonus, my daughter bought a great Iron and Wine T-shirt for me for Father's Day while we were there). starts off with an exuberant "Pagan Angel and a Borrowed Car".
The departure from the band's early work heard here is quite dramatic, yet satisfying. Sam Beam, the once upon a time one-man band behind the Iron and Wine moniker, has finally and fully embraced the sound of a full band, perhaps spurred on by his collaborations with Calexia since the previous album, 2005's "In the Reins", that tipped its toes in this water and previewed this evolution. "The Shepherd's Dog" (12 tracks, 50 min). In all, there really is no weak track on here, and it is (for me) the best album of Iron and Wine to date. Meanwhile, "The Shepherd's Dog" is highly recommended. Well I finally did catch them last month at Bonnaroo, and they put on a fantastic 80 min.
Can't wait to see where these guys will go from here. If you are wondering where I hear their music, check out WOXY (BAM. The Future of Rock and Roll)., the internet-only but best source for indie-music in the country, bar none. Iron and Wine was one of those bands that I had been wanting to see for a long time, particularly since this album came out last Fall. Yes of course there are still 'quite' songs, such as the beautiful "Carousel" and "Resurrection Sound", but even in those songs you can feel a full band's embrace.
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