Iron & Wine, the solo project of multi-instrumentalist and producer Sam Beam, is probably the great survivor of alternative American music of the 2000s. He was never as “weird” as Devendra Banhart or Joanna Newsom, nor did he go as far as Bill Callahan, nor did he end up getting lost in the cracks of time, like Josephine Foster or Alela Diane (with apologies to these two talents). Their music has always been particularly accessible, which is why their current streaming numbers are mind-blowing for anyone who discovers them, similar to those of a current group like Big Thief.
Thus, Iron & Wine reaches its eighth album, ‘Hen’s Teeth’, which will be published on February 27 (like the next works by Bruno Mars or Eim Beihold). ‘Hen’s Teeth’ is being promoted as a sequel to Sam Beam’s latest work, the GRAMMY-nominated ‘Light Verse’ (2024). “Hen’s teeth” do not exist, and for Beam the album title “suggests the impossible”, a “gift that should not be there, but is; something impossible but real.
Recorded in Los Angeles with engineer Dave Way (Fiona Apple, Jakob Dylan, Sheryl Crow), ‘Hen’s Teeth’ is presented with the country-tinged single ‘In Your Ocean’. It is a declaration of love: “Praying for dry land / Although I just want to drown / When I find myself swimming in your ocean,” the artist sings, merging with the person he loves. Spencer Kelly directs the music video. A second preview, ‘Robin’s Egg’ featuring I’m with Her, can also be heard.
