By Liz Belilovskaya

When Iron & White first appeared on the scene, Sam Beam’s music was simple and his lyrics illustrative. His latest release, Kiss Each Other Clean raises his bar on complexity while adopting an occasionally confusing lyrical approach.

“Walking Far From Home” features an electric keyboard bathed in synth and an pendulum swinging melody that switches from analog piano to digital keyboard. Lyrics like, “I saw children in the river but their lips were still dry” and “I saw sunlight on the water saw a bird fall like a hammer from the sky” are confusing.

The saxophone-tinged “Me and Lazarus” is a jazzy, reggae-esque, track. The lyrics tell a story of a freed slave and guy traveling together, going on adventures, experiencing good times and tribulations. At least that’s what it sounds like on the surface; Huckleberry Finn redux. “Tree by The River,” with its light vocals and subtle bass, is about a memory the singer is trying to remind of his woman. Both songs contain a storyline, the problem is in understanding what the true narrative is. “Godless Brother in Love” is another song with good intentions but completely opaque plot.

“Monkeys Uptown” contains spacey, bell-infused tech elements is the musical highlight of the album. The guitar solo along with the bell elements and added synth create a robotic, metallic feel that is icy cool. “Rabbit Will Run” takes the organic route with vocals leading the melody. The track morphs into an array of meddlesome sound effects, combining tribal beats, flutes, synths, and bells for a mescaline-powered romp.

A southern aesthetic colors “Half Moon,” a country-inspired song with lyrics reflective of the same laidback way of life. In “Big Burned Hand” the singers voice has a distortion effect while he sings over a jazzy, fast paced, upbeat track infused with vivid sax. It is reminiscent of early Dave Mathews Band. “Glad Man Singing” was mainly composed of a guitar, bell sound effects and back-up singing, accompanied by a piano with an electric drum.

“Your Fake Name is Good Enough For Me” was vocally the best song on the album. Distantly similar to a 70’s Bee Gees modernized melody, it is soothing and rhythmic enough to be cool and vibrant. The drums keep a nice and steady tempo.

Kiss Each Other Clean is an ambitious work in progress representative of Sam Beam’s evolution as a musician. The soft, acoustic underpinnings from his earlier works are being blended into increasingly electric modern era sound. Sometimes it works, other times the two sounds clash and butt heads. The hazy lyrics and detached imagery on a few tracks also detracts from the album. Overall it’s an interesting expansive journey that will hold your attention, even if just to understand what the hell is going on.

out of 5

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