LP - IRON & WINE - LIGHT VERSE Loser Edition, yellow vinyl

"All our dreamers lose to the light" - from "Angels Go Home" When
the pandemic began, and the world shut down, so did the process
of creating for Iron & Wine's Sam Beam. In its place was a
domesticity that the singer hadn't felt in a long time, and although it
was filled with many rewards, making music was not one of them.
Reflecting on that time, Beam notes: "I feel blessed and grateful
that I and most of my friends and family made it through the
pandemic relatively unscathed compared to so many others, but it
completely paralyzed the songwriter in me. The last thing I wanted
to write about was COVID, and yet every moment I sat with my
pen, it lingered around the edges and wouldn't leave. This lasted
for over two years." The journey back began with a recording
session in Memphis to record a handful of Lori McKenna tracks for
the EP Lori with friend and producer Matt Ross-Spang. The
cathartic experience reconnected Beam with his love for making
music, and soon enough the paralysis had passed, and he was
finishing lyrics and booking studio time for what would become
Light Verse. Light Verse was recorded with engineer and mixer
Dave Way at his studio Waystation high up in Laurel Canyon (with
an additional session at Silent Zoo Studio with a 24-piece
orchestra), with a host of talented musicians joining Beam: Tyler
Chester, Sebastian Steinberg, David Garza, Griffin Goldsmith, Beth
Goodfellow, Kyle Crane, and Paul Cartwright. And, Fiona Apple
joined Beam on vocals for the duet "All In Good Time." Beam
lyrically once again takes focus on a series of both fictional and
personal insights, filled with desperate characters and wide-eyed
optimists, offering promise and a dose of heartache, tears and
laughter, life and love. Taking stock in the album's title, he jokes,
"Light verse is a form of poetry about playful themes that often
uses nonsense and wordplay, and it's my first official Iron & Wine
comedy album!_. Just kidding_." While true this may be Iron &
Wine's most playful record, Beam says the title mostly reflects the
way the songs were born with joy after the heaviness and anxiety
of the pandemic. Where recent records like Beast Epic or Weed
Garden gave air to the disquiet of middle-aged frailty and
brokenness, these songs trade that for the focus acceptance can
bring. Moment by moment, they delight in being pointed or silly (or
both) and attempt beauty over prettiness. Light Verse arrives April
26th, and it's Iron & Wine's seventh full-length overall and fifth for
Sub Pop Records. Fashioned as an album that should be taken as

a whole, it sounds lovingly handmade and self-assured as a secret
handshake. Track by track, its equal parts elegy, kaleidoscope,
truth, and dare.
TRACKLISTING: 01. YOU NEVER KNOW 02. ANYONE'S GAME 03. ALL
IN GOOD TIME 04. CUTTING IT CLOSE 05. TAKEN BY SURPRISE
06. YELLOW JACKET 07. SWEET TALK 08. TEARS THAT DON'T MATTER
09. BAG OF CATS 10. ANGELS GO HOME