Thursday, May 19, 2011

"...by midnight, we had forgotten one another..."

Iron and Wine - Around the Well
(Sub Pop: 2009)

In May 2009, Iron & Wine released Around the Well, a double-disc effort that features all kinds of intricate and intimate tunes, all of which are generally hard to come b(u)y through legal means.  In spite of that fact, there isn’t really anything here that previous Iron & Wine fans haven’t heard, myself included; out of the 23 tracks, only 2 were new to me.

I love this album and that should come as no surprise to regular readers.  In contrast to his immediately previous albums, Around the Well exudes the same cozy, exoteric feel that made his early releases like The Creek Drank the Cradle so amazing.  But that’s not to make one think that it’s all roses and sunshine with Samuel Beam; on the contrary, many of his best songs have a dark hint of the Southern Gothic tradition, made legendary (in my opinion) by artists like Johnny Cash and Will Oldham.  It is not easily tracked and traced, that “Southern Gothic” tradition: it’s just what I call it because it’s easier for me.  (And by "Southern Gothic" I mean loosely the following: the absolute detail in his songs, the distinctively southern feel of his music, the dark and mysterious lyrics, full of death and desolation…Yet with death and desolation automatically come their opposites: life and hope.)  
In this way, by using these realities he’s able to simultaneously make you cry, shiver, dance, hum along, and smile…Whither Apollo?  Whither Dionysos?


With an album of such proportions, figuratively and literally, I will not expand too much.  Suffice it to say there are excellent songs and a few okay songs.  My favourites are:  "Sinning Hands", "Belated Promise Ring", and "Trapeze Swinger".  Of course, I love the covers on here as well, and most likely you’ve heard at least one of them.  Stereolab’s “Peng!33” is beautifully rendered, as is The Postal Service’s “Such Great Heights,” and the Flaming Lips’ “Waiting for Superman”.  His cover of New Order’s “Love Vigilantes” is an earnest improvement on the original in my opinion.

But, and I will conclude on this, the real gem is "The Trapeze Swinger".  It’s worth posting the lyrics so I’ll wait until the end. 
The great thing about this album is its general likability, universality, and sweetness of sound.  That is to say your mother, grandparent, or brother could throw it on and like it….and I’m not sure that’s a good or a bad thing.  Something tells me bad, just a gut feeling. 

“The Trapeze Swinger”

Please, remember me happily
By the rosebush laughing
With bruises on my chin, the time when
We counted every black car passing
Your house beneath the hill
And up until someone caught us in the kitchen
With maps, a mountain range, a piggy bank
A vision too removed to mention

But please, remember me fondly
I heard from someone you're still pretty
And then they went on to say
That the pearly gates
Had some eloquent graffiti
Like "We'll meet again" and "Fuck the man"
And "Tell my mother not to worry"
And angels with their great handshakes
Were always done in such a hurry

And please, remember me that Halloween
Making fools of all the neighbours
Our faces painted white
By midnight, we'd forgotten one another
And when the morning came I was ashamed
Only now it seems so silly
That season left the world and then returned
And now you're lit up by the city

So please, remember me mistakenly
In the window of the tallest tower
Calling passers-by but much too high
To see the empty road at happy hour
Gleam and resonate, just like the gates
Around the holy kingdom
With words like "Lost and found" and "Don't look down"
And "Someone save temptation"

And please, remember me as in the dream
We had as rug-burned babies
Among the fallen trees and fast asleep
Aside the lions and the ladies
That called you what you like and even might
Give a gift for your behaviour
A fleeting chance to see a trapeze
Swinger high as any saviour

But please, remember me, my misery
And how it lost me all I wanted
Those dogs that love the rain and chasing trains
The colored birds above their running
In circles around the well and where it spells
On the wall behind St. Peter
So bright, on cinder gray, in spray paint
"Who the hell can see forever?"

And please, remember me seldomly
In the car behind the carnival
My hand between your knees, you turned from me
And said, "The trapeze act was wonderful
But never meant to last", the clown that passed
Saw me just come up with anger
When it filled with circus dogs, the parking lot
Had an element of danger

So please, remember me finally
And all my uphill clawing
My dear, but if I make the pearly gates
I'll do my best to make a drawing
Of God and Lucifer, a boy and girl
An angel kissing on a sinner
A monkey and a man, a marching band
All around a frightened trapeze swinger


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