Iron & Wine | Calexico - In the Reins

In 2001, Sam Beam, who records under the name Iron & Wine, and Calexico's Joey Burns and Don Convertino kicked around the idea of collaborating on an album. They didn't find the time for the project until late 2004, when Beam packed up his guitar and followed the ribbons of road to Tuscon, Calexico's home base. There, he recorded In the Reins, with Burns and Convertino.

This is a country album. Not country as in "I lost my truck and my wife hates me because my girlfriend's a better hunter" or "I can't get over you till you get out from under him" country, it's country because it is so solidly grounded in rural life. The album brims with rural and natural images. Wide open skies, bridges, cicadas in the trees, birds on branches, and on "Red Dust"... well red dust.

In the Reins draws on the unique strengths of both bands. Sam Beam started his career alone in his bedroom with nothing but a four-track. There, he made lo-fi recordings of his songs and defined what would become his musical signature -telling stories filled with striking imagery and singing in hushed, cottony tones. On Our Endless Numbered Days, he used the evocative, and slightly macabre image of teeth in the grass, to suggest how death haunts our daily lives. His prowess for painting complex pictures continues on In the Reins.

Burns and Convertino's decision to name themselves after a border town was apt. They've become know for creatively blending indie rock with the sounds of the Southwest and Mexico. With their command of different musical traditions, Calexico weaves a rich sonic tapestry, and the multiple musical threads shimmer as a fitting backdrop for Beam's stories. The depth and richness of the music amplifies the depth and richness of Beam's lyrics with eloquence.

I left rural Georgia because wide open skies and drawn out days, while beautiful, often bled into boredom. I like the fast paced, man-made rhythms of the city, and living stacked in a row next to my neighbors. So I don't naturally gravitate toward albums that chime with enthusiasm for the American pastoral. Yet after just a couple listens, In the Reins had reeled me in.

I like this album because it's often poetic, but it is not innocent, and never naive. On one song it slyly revels in the pleasures of a first sexual adventure, on other songs, it rings equally with admirable emotions such as love and less admirable ones such as jealousy. It knows that the rural life is anything but the simple life, and it's enough to make this city boy pine for a dirt road, a cold quiet night, and a starry sky.

Iron & Wine Calexico - In the Reins - http://d.turboupload.com/d/133556/Iron__Wine_-_Calexico__In_the_Reins.zip.html

Note… Iron & Wine along with Calexico just announced a show at DC’s 9:30 Club on November 30th. Tickets are still available. http://www.930.com/