Flightless Bird, American Mouth

My love for Iron & Wine has recently been rekindled.

I have to admit, I'm a bit guilty of letting bands that I love fall out of regular rotation whenever I'm in a specific state of mind... I was REALLY into Iron & Wine a few years ago, during an emotionally turbulent time when I craved either slow melodies and folky lyrics OR the fast I'm-angry-because-I'm-better-than-you stuff.

But I've been so stable lately that I just can't get enough of catchy pop tunes (like American Boy by Estelle.. OMG!) and my usual iPod staples like the Beatles, Oasis and Death Cab - my tried-and-true-good-for-any-mood music. Unfortunately, whenever this happens, nothing else seems to get past the sunshine radiating from my speakers... and beloved bands with abstract lyrics like Iron & Wine fall out of context.

But thanks to Twilight, (yeah, I know), I've recently remembered why Iron & Wine is so amazing. It's not just this song, and it's not just because of the story, but when I downloaded The Shepherd's Dog and listened to it intently while chain-smoking out my window, I was blown away by what is perhaps Iron & Wine's best album yet.

Sam Beam's voice is angelic... as usual. And the songs on here put folk classics like Simon & Garfunkel to shame. Turns out I've been missing out, because this album actually falls perfectly into my current context. To describe it in a few adjectives, I would use: hopeful, honest, artistic, tortured but optimistic, contemporary but traditional, beautiful and painful, all at the same time. Which means, I'm either projecting... or my theory about discovering the right music at the right time really does hold up.

I'm not a professional music critic, but I know what I like... and I ADORE this album. And so I've been listening to it non-stop. It's amazing... GET IT!!!

p.s. While you're at it, go see TWILIGHT!