The songs on this album are great as individuals, but as a whole record, it's hard to digest so many bummer tunes without a Pop song evening things out, whatever, who cares, it's his album, he decides. Iron and Wine's sound is obviously taken from all eras of Folk music, new and old, especially
Elliott Smith's vocal sound, although Beam's are way more over-dubbed, to the point that I can't understand one word he is saying -- no matter, it's great! Point is it may be tough to find a time and a place to play this record, but when you do, it's nice to sink into it's pretty music.
