From the Salmon

Timing, as the saying goes, is everything.

Had schedules worked out, the members of Calexico might have been the backup band for Iron & Wine‘s 2002 debut, The Creek Drank the Cradle. Thankfully, they couldn’t make it happen, and Sam Beam instead released a set of bare-bones home recordings that were stunningly distinctive in their raw, simple beauty.

While that was not the right time to join forces, we’re fortunate that they never let the idea drop. With two albums and a few EPs under his belt as Iron & Wine, Beam now finds himself able to approach such a collaboration as an established artist in his own right. Indeed, the recently released In the Reins EP (iTunes) is full of intrigue: how will Iron & Wine’s now familiar rustic southern whisper fare when plied against the spaghetti western flair of Calexico’s Joey Burns, John Convertino and company?

Adding to the fascination for Iron & Wine completists, the seven songs that comprise the new EP already existed in some form or another from Beam’s Creek-era demo recordings or on assorted live tapes.

The title track opens with a few bars of a dusty desert waltz that is quintessential Calexico. When Beam’s cascading guitar and hushed vocals join the mix, it becomes clear that we’re in for something special. And in song after song, the two distinctive styles meld as beautifully as we’d all hoped.

That’s not to say that In the Reins is predictable. While the songs are very much Beam’s and are bounded by his familiar cadence, it’s Calexico’s eclecticism that rules the day.

Some additions are understated. Swells of pedal steel and harmonica embellish “Prison on Route 41.” A mournful marimba flutters behind “Dead Man’s Will.” But it’s the dramatic transformations that are the most compelling. “Red Dust” exchanges delicate slide guitar and muddy, buzzing bass for a full-out swamp jam culminating in a chaotic duel of electric guitar, organ and blues harp. Haunting muted trumpets lock horns in “Burn That Broken Bed.” The opening title track even hands off the vocals for a verse to a startlingly operatic flamenco singer.

In particular, “A History of Lovers” took me a while to accept. A languid tragic memory in Beam’s early version, the new arrangement rips the narrative out of the past and presents it afresh with an unnervingly remorseless jubilance. What starts out as a bit of a country stomp is joined somewhere along the way by an exuberant Motown horn section and a little Delta barroom piano. It’s disorienting at first, but after a few listens, it really starts to work. In fact, my complaint now is that the song is too short; it ends just as it really starts to hit its stride.

For my money, though, the most rewarding track on In the Reins is the lushly stunning “Sixteen, Maybe Less.” Here, the collaboration is the most balanced as pedal steel, restrained bass, and brushed snare nudge along Beam’s melancholy remembrance.

While Sam Beam never did release a full Iron & Wine album this year, he has given us two smaller offerings that stand tall against any of this year’s heavy hitters. Of the two, February’s Woman King EP is the more mature and satisfying. But In the Reins is still to be savored.

And if the timing works out, perhaps we’ll be blessed with more Iron & Wine & Calexico somewhere down the road.

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In the Reins was released on September 13 and is available at Amazon and at iTunes. Calexico and Iron & Wine will be teaming up for a short tour of the west coast and the southwest in late October. I’ll be there at the Warfield on October 19!