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Iron & Wine, The Shepherd's Dog

by T.O. Lawrence
11/07/2007

Iron and Wine’s junior studio album The Shepherd’s Dog follows a successful series of folk-indie releases, building upon singer/songwriter Sam Beam’s stripped-down southern sound added to complex musical layers, a method which is successful more often than not.

All of the tracks recall his practiced skill in Pentecostal vocals, making the sound of the words flowing together as aurally interesting as any of the lyric's dictionary meanings. His production style resembles Elliott Smith’s, but reaches further to include the feelings of a John Wayne ride-along and adds the occasional African rhythm to his beat.

The best evidence lies on tracks one, "Pagan Angel and a Borrowed Car," and nine, "Boy with a Coin," which maintain strongly the elements of his previous works while crossing the line into more complicated amalgamations of style and originality. Other tracks, however, stray too far from the honest, twangy buzz that fans are accustomed to, opting instead for daring which slowly but surely begins to show potential the more you listen.

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