JAMES WALSH is moved by a provocative and original take on the relationship between ecology and architecture, and a plea to work with, not against, the materials and minerals of our world
Album reviews with Ian Sinclair: March 18, 2019
The latest from Iron & Wine, TEEN and Chick Corea
An immersive, participatory display by a queer Australian Aboriginal performer, and a rebellious unravelling of traditional Scottish dance
EWAN CAMERON witnesses a political farce that lacks a clear message
EWAN CAMERON picks out two fascinating music shows, fusing the Korean, and the Celtic, with the modern
BENJAMIN POTHIER suggests that Palaeolithic cave paintings in Spain point to the ceremonial use of hallucinogenic flora
The bard confirms that the right has a humour bypass, and replays the English Revolution on period instruments
Iron & Wine
Our Endless Numbered Days
(Sub Pop)
★★★★
IN THE mid-2000s it was difficult to escape the sound and influence of US singer-songwriter Sam Beam — AKA Iron & Wine, in indie music circles — especially his career-high second album Our Endless Numbered Days.
Re-released with eight demos to celebrate its 15th anniversary the record has, if anything, improved with age. Beam’s hushed vocals and acoustic guitar, banjo, mandolin and slide guitar playing fashions a deeply intimate and thoughtful atmosphere, his Southern folk akin to your favourite jumper — warm, familiar and calming.
Like the album title, Naked As We Come — a song of exquisite beauty — is a meditation on the passing of time and mortality. Elsewhere there are summer memories on the finger-picked Sunset Soon Forgotten and the keys-assisted Passing Afternoon is a sentimental, poetic closer.
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