Demob Happy

Excellent mini-album

7/10

Iron & Wine and Calexico have collaborated well on this fine EP, which pits Samuel Beam’s alt-country credentials against the latter band’s widescreen musicianship. It is an easy match, since Beam’s soft, sometimes melancholic vocals are not dissimilar to that of Calexico’s Joey Burns. Whereas Iron & Wine is a solitary lo-fi proposition, Calexico adds a trademark cinematic grandeur to his intimate sondwriting, with evocative sliding steel guitar, mournful trumpets and shuffly percussion. ‘In the Reins‘ is redolent of the vast south-western US skies, imagery popularised by the likes of Gus Van Sant’s ‘My Own Private Idaho‘ or Wim Wenders’ ‘Paris, Texas‘.

Of the different styles proferred on ‘In the Reins‘, the dreamy slowcore of ‘Sixteen, Maybe Less’ works best for me, comparable to the delicate precision of Tram’s ‘Frequently Asked Questions‘. Also brilliant is the opener ‘He Lays in the Reins’, which chucks a little Mariachi vocal sample into the mix for a perfect curveball, which serves as a prototype for ideas fleshed out by Calexico on their stunning ‘Roka (Danza de la Muerte)’. Another highlight for me is the sombre Angelo Badalemente/Mark Isham-style horns of ‘Burn That Broken Bed’, a bluesy mood piece that doesn’t sound wholly like either act. The result is lusher than an Iron & Wine record, and with subtler songwriting than Calexico’s normal output. If you like ‘In the Reins‘, try the aforementioned artists, plus Lambchop’s ‘Nixon‘.

Iron and Wine and Calexico-he-lays-in-the-reins.mp3