DOUGLAS FIELD relishes the hard-boiled language, satire and humour of the third and last of the Harlem trilogy
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RON JACOBS recommends an important book that enhances the oppositional theories put forth by Fanon and, in doing so, remakes psychology itself
Iron & Wine
Our Endless Numbered Days
(Sub Pop)
★★★★
IN THE mid-2000s it was difficult to escape the sound and influence of US singer-songwriter Sam Beam — AKA Iron & Wine, in indie music circles — especially his career-high second album Our Endless Numbered Days.
Re-released with eight demos to celebrate its 15th anniversary the record has, if anything, improved with age. Beam’s hushed vocals and acoustic guitar, banjo, mandolin and slide guitar playing fashions a deeply intimate and thoughtful atmosphere, his Southern folk akin to your favourite jumper — warm, familiar and calming.
Like the album title, Naked As We Come — a song of exquisite beauty — is a meditation on the passing of time and mortality. Elsewhere there are summer memories on the finger-picked Sunset Soon Forgotten and the keys-assisted Passing Afternoon is a sentimental, poetic closer.
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