RELAXED ATTITUDE
Iron & Wine mastermind likes to ‘let the music work its way’
Samuel Beam is taking the time to soak up some rest.
He should after months on the road, yet his break will be short-lived, as he heads back out on the road soon for the next leg of his tour.
“Rest is imperative to me,” Beam says in a recent phone interview. “It gives me a chance to get recharged for life on the road.”
Beam is the mastermind behind the music project Iron & Wine. He has released eight studio albums. The most recent is “Beast Epic,” released on Aug. 25.
His music has appeared in TV and in film, including “Grey’s Anatomy,” “The L Word” and “House M.D.” The single “Flightless Bird, American Mouth” was used in the film “Twilight,” and introduced Beam’s music to an entirely new audience and crossed him over into mainstream radio.
With “Beat Epic” being Beam’s eighth full-length album, he wanted to take his time with the record.
He recorded the album in 2016 and finished around Thanksgiving.
“We’ve been sitting on it for a little while,” he says. “There’s an excitement to having new music. What worries me is that there is a lot of competition out in the world for fans’ attention. There’s only so much people can pay attention to at one time. It always feels like rolling the dice when you release something new. Questions comes into play.”
The 43-year-old musician also admits to wanting to slow down and completely take in all of the success.
“I change as a person and, because of that, my writing has changed slowly over time,” he says. “I used to be a lot more disciplined over that. I am more engaged than I ever have been. I’m taking things in with more relaxation. I don’t force anything and just let the music work its way.”
As with previous albums, Beam kept “Beast Epic” on the short side. The album consists of 11 tracks and clocks in under 36 minutes, although he recorded about 15 tracks and a few of the songs not on the album will be released as bonus tracks at some point.
“I like short records,” he says with a laugh. “I like finding the right sequence for the group of songs. It’s not an easy decision. It’s also not one that I don’t lose sleep over. I do what makes me feel was the best decisions at the moment. This album was a great journey for me, and I am able to share all of it with the fans who continue to support me after all these years. That’s the best part of what I do.”