Sam Beam, who records as Iron and Wine, is the pioneer of a style that is now ubiquitous in modern music. Not only his personal, intimate style of songwriting, which utilises old-fashioned harmonies and acoustic instruments, but also his lustrous beard and general demeanour as an authentic, backwoods sort with a poetic sensibility have paved the way for American roots-based bands such as Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver and Band of Horses.
Perhaps sick of people thinking he’s stepped out of a Mark Twain novel, Beam has embraced the commercial sound of mid-1970s mellow rock on his new album Kiss Each Other Clean, which suits him since his voice is a lot like Lyndsay Buckingham’s, of Fleetwood Mac. His sold-out Roundhouse concert was to showcase this new direction with the aid of an expanded backing band that included saxophone and flute. It was a bold move before an audience that cheered every time Beam strapped on an acoustic guitar, but it was only partially successful.
The kind of laid-back music Iron and Wine makes needs to be presented with the illusion of ease, and Beam, suffering from a heavy cold, as much as admitted that he wasn’t in the mood to project his mellow vibes out to 3,000 people. “It was too late to cancel, so here I am,” he said, which didn’t instil great confidence. He made uncertain banter with the crowd before launching into Boy with a Coin, which is built around a delicate finger-picked guitar rhythm. It needed a totally engaged audience to work, which it didn’t have.
The moments when Beam and his band stretched out worked best. Wolves (Song of the Shepherd’s Dog) turned into a full-on cosmic jam, complete with an extended saxophone solo and tinkling jazz piano, which may sound horrible but was actually very transporting.
And Beam’s skill as a songwriter shone through. Me And Lazarus, which contains the evocative line, “He’s an emancipated punk and he can dance”, has one of those perfect melodies that make for great pop music: unforgettable in a way that enriches rather than annoys. Tree by the River had this quality too, with the harmonic depth Crosby, Stills and Nash captured. But as a single-song encore confirmed, Beam would clearly have rather been at home with a Lemsip than presenting these songs to an audience.