Sam Beam is a great crooner for the band Iron and Wine, fitting the ’70′s style groove of the music well. Iron and Wine started out in 2002, then, after releasing thier fourth studio album “The Shepheds Dog” in 2007, suddenly stopped making albums until now. “Kiss each other Clean” was released in January 2011 (courtesy of Warner Bros), making a great comeback with a mixture of old and new funk.

The amazing imagery starts with the very brilliant album cover, and continues through most of the songs. Favorite songs of “Kiss each other Clean” like “Me and Lazarus” and “Tree by the River” create a dream-like atmosphere with the poetic riffs and lyrics. Other great qualities about this album are the multi-part vocal arrangements, electronic synth sounds (like DJ scratching), and the horn sections like in “Big Burned Hand”. The producer, Brian Deck, and Sam Beam have a great relationship that creates a comfortable feeling throughout the album, Beam’s musical experimentation (trying new sounds for example)gives Deck a challenge that he was meant to conquer.

If you like listenig to music like Fleetwood Mac or Stevie Wonder, listen to Iron and Wine’s “Kiss each other Clean”, and you will be delighted with what you hear.