Our Endless Numbered Days
by Iron & Wine
Release Date: March 23rd 2004
Tracklist: On Your Wings / Naked As We Came / Cinder And Smoke / Sunset Soon Forgotten / Teeth In The Grass / Love And Some Verses / Radio War / Each Coming Night / Free Until They Cut Me Down / Fever Dream / Sodom, South Georgia / Passing Afternoon //
Our Endless Numbered Days is Samuel Beam's (Iron & Wine) second
studio album, which was released in 2004. This album was my introduction
to Iron & Wine's music, and it was the one of the best
introductions to an artist I've had.
There's a noticeable change in style and musical development
from Our Endless Numbered Days to Ghost On
Ghost. Our Endless Numbered Days is a lot simpler
and has a much thinner texture in terms of instrumental accompaniment compared
to Ghost On Ghost but it works well with the style of the
album.
Sam Beam's voice
tranquil and inviting, the subtle haunting harmonies in the background, his
calm picked guitar lines; the entire atmosphere of this album reminisces cozy
days inside curled up with a cup of tea while it's pouring with rain outside.
The opening track, On Your Wings, is introduced with
staccato picks of his guitar which is followed by his voice flowing over the
lines before the band joins in for a little-jam that becomes a coda to end the
song that leads into the effortless track that is Naked As We Came.
Now, one thing you should know about Iron & Wine is
that his lyrics will never disappoint. Sam Beam switches
between both dialogue and narrator in Naked As We Came singing
about inevitable mortality: "she says "wake up, it's no use
pretending" / I'll keep stealing, breathing her / Birds are leaving over,
autumn's ending", while softly and subtly in the background
harmonies haunt over the lines, "one of us will die inside these arms /
eye wide open. naked as we came". This shifting between lines of
dialogue and himself being the narrator, also appears in Each Coming
Night, where he focuses on segments of conversation - fiction or
non-fiction - lamenting over the loss of loved ones and life after passing,
"will you say when I'm gone away / "my lover came to me and we'd
lay / in rooms unfamiliar but until now". His lyrics turn into
stories, each about a different person and a different life and all fit into
the theme of each album - stories about love and relationships, death and loss,
family and scenes of nature and animals etc.
From this album, Our Endless Numbered Days,
having been released in 2004, and now in 2015 Sam Beam has
released 8 other albums since then it shows how consistent his writing (both
for text and instrumentation) as a musician is and how an artist can stick to a
similar style or genre but still manage to push the boundaries. If you haven't
heard the album, or haven't been introduced to Iron & Wine,
like I said - this album is the best way to be introduced to his music, have a
listen below.
Our Endless Numbered Days, the full album to fulfil your listening needs:
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