The Sea & the Rhythm [EP]

Iron & Wine

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 9, 2003)
• Original Release Date: September 9, 2003
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: EP
• Label: Sub Pop
• ASIN: B0000BWVM3
• In-Print Editions: Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,575 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
This twenty-minute EP is a five-song companion piece to Sam Beam aka Iron & Wine’s exceptional 2002 debut, The Creek Drank the Cradle. Culled from sessions in Sam’s Florida house between 1999 and 2002, everything that made that left-field album of often beautiful and sometimes strange folk music is here. There’s Beam’s deft banjo and slide guitar playing, his hushed and lovely but somehow very intense vocals, and those wonderful cryptic Southern Gothic lyrics. The words are sung clearly and they’re worth chewing over; infused with religious overtones and muted irony, they’re never corny and invite multiple interpretations. A highlight is the audience favorite "Jesus the Mexican Boy," one of his most beautiful and touching songs to date. PS: Your copy did not get water-damaged; like the intentionally lo-fidelity recording sound, it’s supposed to look like that! --Mike McGonigal

Product Description
5 songs recorded in Sam Beam's bedroom from the same sessions that gave us 2002's The Creek Drank the Cradle. The Sea and the Rhythm includes "Jesus the Mexican Boy," which has been a big audience favorite at recent Iron and Wine shows.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Where has Sam Beam been all my life?, September 14, 2004

By	Lauren Mitchell (Asheville, NC) - See all my reviews

I listen to this EP like it's my job. I don't remember bedtime without it. It fits the mood, it spends time with you, it calms your frazzled nerves and lets you know that everything will be okay again. It is an essential in your collection of mellow music. It is what downtempo was meant to be. It is literate, wise, simple, and, most important in the sparse-music genre, it is complete.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars poetry in ocean, November 7, 2003

By	Geoffrey S. Hineman (Traverse City, MI United States) - See all my reviews

As the springboard for the Seattle movement of the early `90s, Sup Pop Records has long been viewed as purveyors of all things lo-fi and hi-volume. Lately, however, they've been recruiting a roster of more diverse acts. Sam Beam, the one-man show known as Iron & Wine, is a brilliant example.

The Sea & the Rhythm is a five-song E.P. of songs that didn't fit on Beam's debut album The Creek Drank the Cradle. While these songs were recorded in Beam's own house, the sounds-in all their acoustic glory-share an overwhelming outdoor feeling. The guitar strumming, banjo picking, and mandolin lines decorating this disc would be right at home on the front porch, around the campfire, or on a breezy summer morning at the beach.

The real magic on this disc, however, comes from the mouth of Beam himself, both in terms of lyrics and delivery. His voice simply whispers, at times approaching a Neil Young quality, only better; and Beam's lyrics are pure magic. I've not heard more poetic lyrics from any artist in the last 15 years. If you're a listener who's more into words than the music, you've got a new reason to be happy.

"Jesus the Mexican Boy" is a standout track on the first listen. It tells the tale of unconditional friendship between a narrator and Jesus, the Mexican boy. They grow up together and their friendship holds true through the eloping of the narrator and Jesus' sister. For a listen, you can download the mp3 at subpop.com.

Although the whole disc clocks in at just 21:21, you'll want to listen to three times in a row each time you throw it in the player. It's just that good.

16 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars beautiful EP, June 24, 2004

By	Dan Grissom (Nacogdoches, TX) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

First of all, I do not understand how some of the other reviewers could say that "Jesus, the Mexican boy" is a bad song. I guess it's just a taste thing, but I think it's one of the strongest on this EP. Sure it's not a song that's gonna "raise the roof" but that's not why I listen to Iron and Wine to begin with. The song is a beautiful poetic parable about his friendship with Jesus, the Mexican boy, and how he betrayed Jesus, but was forgiven. And as for the reviewer that called this album "JUNK," well, to be honest, that makes me sad. Sad that this person just doesn't get it.

Now that my temporary rant is over, I'll accually talk about the EP as a whole. When I bought this EP, I was hesitant at first, because it was only five songs, but I bought it anyway. That night I was up late framing some paintings and I just put it on loop and played it for about 5 hours. Now you'd think I'd get tired of the same five songs for five hours, but I didn't. Actually, I bought this before I had ever heard "The Creek Drank the Cradle," and I thought, "if this is what they left off of the first one, I've got to hear it." I was not disappointed at all, and haven't been by "Our Endless Numbered Days" either. I would recommend that anyone who is into layed back, beautiful, poetic, acoustic music buy all of Iron and Wine's albums. You will not be disappointed. However, if you are someone who absolutely adores what you hear on pop radio and on vh1, maybe you're not up to it. And for the record, I only gave it four stars because lately I've been saving my five stars for completely ground breaking, "change my life" sort of albums.