Iron & Wine
Archive Series Vol. No. 1 [rarities]
BLACK CRICKET
7/10
Touted as a companion piece to Iron & Wine’s 2002 debut album, The Creek Drank the Cradle, this first volume of archive material from Sam Beam’s shape-shifting South Carolina outfit gathers together sixteen of his earliest recordings. Though written at the same time as the songs chosen for his debut and captured, like those, at home on his four-track, these hushed compositions were intended solely for his family’s ears. They have, of course, been widely bootlegged since, but this official collection—whether the melancholic, downcast lament of “Slow Black River,” the lilting, soothing jangle of “Everyone’s Summer Of ’95,” or the raw, elegiac near-blues of “Minor Piano Keys”—backs up what avid Iron & Wine fans have known for years. Namely, that these songs are up there with his very best work and, as such, are truly deserving of a place next to his other albums on record store shelves.
