When the pandemic began, and the world shut down, so did the process of
creating for Iron & Wine’s Sam Beam. In its place was a domesticity that the
singer hadn’t felt in a long time, and although it was filled with many rewards,
making music was not one of them. Reflecting on that time, Beam notes:

“I feel blessed and grateful that I and most of my friends and family made it
through the pandemic relatively unscathed compared to so many others, but
it completely paralyzed the songwriter in me. The last thing I wanted to write
about was COVID, and yet every moment I sat with my pen, it lingered around
the edges and wouldn’t leave. This lasted for over two years.”

The journey back began with a recording session in Memphis to record a
handful of Lori McKenna tracks for the EP Lori with friend and producer Matt
Ross-Spang. The cathartic experience reconnected Beam with his love for
making music, and soon enough the paralysis had passed, and he was
finishing lyrics and booking studio time for what would become Light Verse.

Light Verse was recorded with engineer and mixer Dave Way at his studio
Waystation high up in Laurel Canyon (with an additional session at Silent Zoo
Studio with a 24-piece orchestra), with a host of talented musicians joining
Beam: Tyler Chester, Sebastian Steinberg, David Garza, Griffin Goldsmith,
Beth Goodfellow, Kyle Crane, and Paul Cartwright. And, Fiona Apple joined
Beam on vocals for the duet “All In Good Time.”

Beam lyrically once again takes focus on a series of both fictional and
personal insights, filled with desperate characters and wide-eyed optimists,
oering promise and a dose of heartache, tears and laughter, life and love.
Taking stock in the album’s title, he jokes, “Light verse is a form of poetry
about playful themes that often uses nonsense and wordplay, and it’s my first
ocial Iron & Wine comedy album!…. Just kidding….”

While true this may be Iron & Wine’s most playful record, Beam says the title
mostly reflects the way the songs were born with joy after the heaviness and
anxiety of the pandemic. Where recent records like Beast Epic or Weed Garden
gave air to the disquiet of middle-aged frailty and brokenness, these songs
trade that for the focus acceptance can bring. Moment by moment, they
delight in being pointed or silly (or both) and attempt beauty over prettiness.

Light Verse arrives April 26th, and it’s Iron & Wine’s seventh full-length overall
and fifth for Sub Pop Records. Fashioned as an album that should be taken as
a whole, it sounds lovingly handmade and self-assured as a secret handshake.
Track by track, its equal parts elegy, kaleidoscope, truth, and dare.

1 You Never Know
2 Anyone's Game
3 All in Good Time
4 Cutting It Close
5 Taken By Surprise
6 Yellow Jacket
7 Sweet Talk
8 Tears That Don't Matter
9 Bag of Cats
10 Angels Go Home