Sam Beam has announced a new Iron & Wine album: Beast Epic arrives August 25 via Sub Pop. It’s Beam’s first Iron & Wine record since his 2015 covers album with Ben Bridwell; it’s also the first Iron & Wine album of new material since 2013’s Ghost on Ghost. Along with announcement, Beam has shared the video for a new track, “Call It Dreaming.” Directed by J. Austin Wilson, the visual features Beam riding in the back of a truck bed, picking up various hitchhikers on the road. Watch the “Call It Dreaming” music video below. Scroll down for the Beast Epic tracklist, Iron & Wine’s upcoming tour dates, and Sam Beam’s artist statement.
Beast Epic:
01 Claim Your Ghost
02 Thomas County Law
03 Bitter Truth
04 Song in Stone
05 Summer Clouds
06 Call It Dreaming
07 About a Bruise
08 Last Night
09 Right for Sky
10 The Truest Stars We Know
11 Our Light Miles
Iron & Wine:
06-28 Portsmouth, NH - Prescott Park Arts Festival
06-29 Canadiagua, NY - CMAC @
07-22 Austin, TX - Paramount Theater ^
08-26 Fayetteville, AR - Roots Festival
08-27 Columbia, MO - The Blue Note %
08-28 Chattanooga, TN - Tivoli Theatre %
08-29 Birmingham, AL - Saturn %
08-30 Louisville, KY - WFPK on the Waterfront
10-12-13 Chicago, IL - Thalia Hall
10-14 St Paul,MN - Palace Theatre
10-15 Lincoln, NE - Rococo Theatre #
10-17 Missoula, MT - Wilma Theater #
10-18 Seattle, WA - Moore Theater
10-19 Eugene, OR - McDonald Theater #
10-20 Portland, OR - Aladdin Theater
10-21 San Francisco, CA - Warfield Theatre
10-26 Los Angeles, CA - The Cathedral Sanctuary at Immanuel Presbyterian
10-27 Pioneertown, CA - Pappy & Harriet’s
10-28 San Diego, CA - - Balboa #
10-29 Phoenix, AZ - Van Buren #
10-30 Albuquerque, NM - El Rey #
11-01 Dallas, TX - The Kessler #
11-02 San Antonio, TX - The Aztec Theater #
11-03 Houston, TX - The Heights #
11-04 New Orleans, LA - Joy Theater #
11-06 Ft Lauderdale, FL - Culture Room#
11-07 Orlando, FL - The Beacham #
11-09 Washington DC - Lincoln Theatre #
11-10 New Haven, CT - College Street Music Hall #
11-11 Boston, MA - Berklee Performance Center #
11-12 Northampton, MA - Calvin Theatre #
11-13 New York, NY - Town Hall #
11-14 Brooklyn, NY - Brooklyn Steel *
@ with Jason Isbell
^ with Joan Shelley
% with Lydia Loveless
# with John Moreland
* with OHMME
Sam Beam:
I must confess that I’ve always shied away from album introductions citing the usual “dancing to architecture” cop out. Speaking to their own work is uncomfortable for many artists, but I’ve made a new album called Beast Epic which is important to me and I wanted to take a moment to talk about why. I’ve been releasing music for about fifteen years now and I feel very blessed to have put out five other full lengths, many EPs and singles, a few collaborations with people much more talented than myself, and made contributions to numerous movie scores and soundtracks. This is my sixth collection of new Iron & Wine material and I’m happy to say that it’s my fourth for Sub Pop Records.
It’s a warm and serendipitous time to be reuniting with my Seattle friends because I feel there’s a certain kinship between this new collection of songs and my earliest material, which Sub Pop was kind enough to release. In hindsight, both The Creek Drank the Cradle (2002) and Our Endless Numbered Days (2004) epitomize a reflective and confessional songwriting style (although done with my own ferocious commitment to understatement, of course.) I have been and always will be fascinated by the way time asserts itself on our bodies and our hearts. The ferris wheel keeps spinning and we’re constantly approaching, leaving or returning to something totally unexpected or startlingly familiar. The rite of passage is an image I’ve returned to often because I feel we’re all constantly in some stage of transition. Beast Epic is saturated with this idea but in a different way simply because each time I return to the theme I’ve collected new experiences to draw from. Where the older songs painted a picture of youth moving wide-eyed into adulthood’s violent pleasures and disappointments, this collection speaks to the beauty and pain of growing up after you’ve already grown up. For me, that experience has been more generous in its gifts and darker in its tragedies.
The sound of Beast Epic harks back to previous work, in a way, as well. By employing the old discipline of recording everything live and doing minimal overdubbing, I feel like it wears both its achievements and its imperfections on its sleeve. Over the years, I’ve enjoyed experimenting with different genres, sonics and songwriting styles and all that traveled distance is evident in the feel and the arrangements here, but the muscles seemed to have relaxed and been allowed to effortlessly do what they do best.
I’ve been fortunate to get to play with some very talented musicians over the years who are both uniquely intuitive and also expressive in exciting ways. This group was no different. We spent about two weeks recording and mixing but mostly laughing at The Loft in Chicago.
To be honest, I’ve named this record BEAST EPIC mostly because it sounds really fucking cool! However, with that said and perhaps to be completely honest, “a story where animals talk and act like people” sounds like the perfect description for the life of any of us. If not that, then it’s at least perfect for any group of songs I’ve ever tried to make. I hope you enjoy it.
via Noah Yoo and Michelle Kim
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