Hot Press meets Sam Beam from Iron & Wine

Austin-based indie folk artist Sam Beam, aka Iron & Wine, is back with his fifth album, Ghost On Ghost, the follow-up to 2011’s Kiss Each Other Clean, a substantial hit which charted on the Billboard top ten. This time, Beam has removed the jagged, uneasy guitars which featured on Kiss Each Other Clean in favour of a mellower sound, which he has described as “a reward for myself after the
previous two”.

“I think the overall feel is more relaxed,” notes Beam, a warm and likeable interviewee. “The songs unfold more gently than on the last two records. There were some angry tunes on the previous album. I thought it appropriate to make it unsettling in places. Whereas this one is a bit
more laidback.”
Ghost On Ghost was assembled in New York with a collaborators, including Tony Garnier, bassist in Bob Dylan’s band. Beam explains that it was generally a case of getting the musicians in and allowing them do their thing, leaving him more room to concentrate on the vocals. Indeed he says at times he “felt like Sinatra – the way he would just turn up to the studio and sing. I sometimes thought I should have a martini while I was doing
the vocals!”
Though Beam, like many singer-songwriters, concentrates to a great extent on emotional matters in his lyrics, he has noted that 2007’s album The Shepherd’s Dog was “definitely inspired by political confusion, because I was really taken aback when Bush got reelected”. He now says that the Bush presidency “made you realise you didn’t really know people you though you knew”. Does he feel that era brought out attitudes in some Americans he wasn’t previously aware of?
“I thought Bush would lose,” he responds, simply. “I thought he would lose the second election because of all the bullshit he did in the first one. So when my country voted him I was thinking, ‘What is going on with you people? I thought for sure you guys were reading the newspaper.’ That was how I reacted and it played itself out in the work in that way.”
A notable aspect of Beam’s career – fittingly, bearing in mind he once worked as a professor of film and cinematography at the University of Miami – is the extent to which his music has been used in TV shows like Grey’s Anatomy, The L Word and House, and movies such as Garden State.
“We’ve been lucky along those lines,” he notes. “It’s cool, especially ‘cos I have this film background. So it’s fun to be tangentially involved on a certain level. Not the level I expected, but it’s a kick.”
Perhaps the biggest cinematic exposure Beam has received came when Kristen Stewart personally selected ‘Flightless Bird, American Mouth’ to soundtrack the prom scene in Twilight.
“Apparently, she was listening to it and the vampire side of her was overwhelmed by this tune I guess,” he laughs. “What I heard is that they were rehearsing this scene, where they’re at this dance, and she was listening to it on her headphones, and she said it might work. I think they were using it as a temporary thing, just something to loop to, and then people got used to hearing it and it kind of stuck.”
Remarkably, Beam recorded Ghost On Ghost in just two weeks in NYC, which he says marks something of a reversal from his previous albums.
“The last two records, I would spend the time learning to use the studio as an instrument,” he explains. “I was letting the songs develop and it was more a process of discovery. Whereas this one, we worked out all the string and horn arrangements and so on before we went in. We left some room for improvisation, but it was mostly done in pre-production, so then you’d go in and hire some talented musicians and they can bust it out.”
When it comes to the aforementioned Garnier, being a member of Bob Dylan’s band is quite a claim to fame.
“He’s an amazing bass-player,” enthuses Beam. “You talk about pedigree, this guy has been playing with everybody. He has Austin connections too – he was in the first incarnation of Ray Benson’s Asleep At The Wheel, a Texas swing band, and then he played in the Lounge Lizards with John Lurie, and now he’s been playing with Bob Dylan for a while. It’s funny that you mention it, because every time we would finish a song he would be like, ‘Man this is fun – Bob would never let me do this!’”

Ghost On Ghost is released via 4AD on April 15.