Why didn’t somebody think of this sooner? It’s not a fair question, but it’s an easy one to ask once you’ve heard the seven-track In the Reins, the first in what, if we’re all very lucky, will be a series of collaborations between Iron & Wine and Calexico.
Iron & Wine’s Beam and Calexico’s Joey Burns sound heavenly harmonizing with each other, especially when guest vocalist Natalie Wyants joins them. Neither is an exceptional vocalist on his own, both occasionally lapsing to a whisper, but those hushed, gently melodic cords singing in unison make magic. Beam is the principle songwriter and vocalist on the album, and he’s written some ‘A’ material for the record, admirably putting his all into it instead of offering up some throwaway stuff and hoping Calexico can do something with it.
What ultimately ends up happening is Calexico’s sense of cinematic grandeur and eclecticism imbues Beam’s melodies and lyrics with an expansiveness that his humid Floridian folk doesn’t usually have. Shades of jazz and country creep in, and they even tackle straightahead California pop on “History of Lovers”. The only ingredients from Calexico’s usual recipe that are absent are dub and mariachi, but they employ their arsenal so sympathetically to Beam’s vision that an unschooled listener might never guess that this wasn’t a proper, working band.
Whether or not Iron & Wine and Calexico ever choose to follow this up with another collaboration (fingers crossed), it’s clear that both acts are stronger for having worked with the other. It’ll be interesting to see what comes next for Iron & Wine and Calexico and how this affects their work apart from each other. In the meantime, we can hope that this isn’t a one-time-only engagement. |
