The evocative power of Sam Beam’s compositions has always been one of his trademarks, which is also why his songbook has been plundered by TV series and films (“The L Word”, “Dr. House”, “Twilight”) which they found the perfect soundtrack in its light and romantic plots. Now the protagonist of the “film” is the singer-songwriter from South Carolina, captured both in the live dimension in two evenings at the historic Haw River Ballroom in Saxapahaw, North Carolina, and in the most intimate moments in his wooden house immersed in the Green of Durham, together with his wife and five daughters.
Director Josh Slideffe was tasked with making a live documentary, but as he spent time with Beam he realized that family, friends, creative moments in his recording studio or painting jobs in the back of the house were all pieces of a story that deserved to be told in its entirety.
The songs that make up the album are live reinterpretations of some of Iron & Wine’s most beloved songs: “Passing Afternoon” is poignant like a November afternoon spent on the porch watching the leaves folded by the rain while choices and regrets pass through the mind , memories, bundled together as only memory can do; “The Trapeze Swinger”, recorded in 2005 for the film “In Good Company”, is the testament of a shy man who grew up on folk and the Bible in a small rural town, now looking for something that explains joys and failures, scars and smiles, tears shed and provoked, not finding in a monotheistic God the answer to the restlessness of one’s soul.
From the latter comes the verse that gives the album its title, “Who Can See Forever”, a flow of nineteen songs illuminated by Beam’s compositional grace, by her sweet and slightly broken voice, by Elizabeth Goodfellow’s drums and percussion, from the keyboards and mandolin of Eliza Hardy Jones, from the cello of Teddy Rankin-Parker and from the bass of Sebastian Steinberg. “Grace For Saints And Ramblers” has pace Dylanian with one spoken word which dominates the origami clouds drawn by the cello, while “Thomas County Law” – chosen as the first promotional video of the film – is intimate, warm, welcoming, embellished with impalpable choirs and a sweetly rebellious gait.
Each composition is a suggestive interior portrait, a piece of private history that speaks to everyone’s heart, because the strength of storyteller is precisely that of immersing yourself in the world with your nerves on edge, ready to capture weaknesses, fears and hopes: “One of us will die in these arms/ Eyes wide open/ Naked as we arrived”, Sam sings in a faint voice in “Naked As We Came”, while he outlines delicate arpeggios with the guitar.
Iron & Wine is a rare case of underworld talent emerging in the mainstream (he also received four Grammy nominations) without losing an ounce of honesty and inspiration, because ultimately he only knows how to do one thing… talk about the stuff we are made of, between stars and ashes, and he does it like few others (“Call Your Boys”).
05/01/2024
