Iron And Wine Ghost On Ghost

With each successive album Sam Beam explores new creative styles and becomes less recognizable to those who remember the quiet, lo-fi recordings that stood as his introduction to the music world. Beam is too restless a soul to confine himself to single sound and Ghost On Ghost, his fifth album, grabs a ticket for the AM Radio of the 1970s when a singer-songwriter like Paul Simon tried on new grooves and R&B, soft rock and lite-jazz all could be heard in a single listening. "Grace For Saints and Ramblers" cranks up the electric piano and the female backing choruses for a classic track that slips between genres. "Grass Widows" takes things further with another jazzy electric piano, a smart horn section and a Beam vocal that shadows John Lennon with its lonely echo. "Singers and the Endless Song" has traces of the reflective cadences of Our Endless Numbered Days but with a slew of friends busting things out. Tony Garnier's bass lines, Brian Blade's clean but animated drum fills, and Josette Newsome and Carla Cook's backing vocals ensure Beam is lonely no more.