Album Review: Iron & Wine - Ghost On Ghost

There's a warm spot in many hearts that have been broken for those murmurs of love – often lost – for which the artist also known as Sam Beam would be most easily recognised. But Ghost On Ghost builds on the lighter touch of his previous, Kiss Each Other Clean, to the point where his still carefully hand-hewn songs are now delivered by an up-to-dozen-piece band.

Said band includes some Dylan and Antony Hegarty sidemen, so are players who know how to serve a song. The worry the bigger palette may obscure Beam's basic emotional honesty and wit is misplaced, as the skittering drum intro to the opening Caught In The Briars gives way to a subtle brass groove and him “never [meaning] to fall so hard in a doorway” for a girl who may have some past.

It's not all so breezy – and there's a word you might not have immediately identified with the name. Joy has a quieter grace, and a smile of love to it, as smooth cross-harmonies carry it along. Winter Prayers is lonelier, but hopeful even as “sometimes confidence leaves you”.

And other tangents: Lovers' Revolution is jazzier, bluesier. Sax blurts and echoey “ooh-oooh” backing vocals, while Beam stumbles around some wordplay almost suggesting himself a bit like Tom Waits with a larynx transplant. Meanwhile, New Mexico's No Breeze recalls the desert backroads of his collaboration with Calexico some years back, which maybe gave him the inspiration and skills to extend his songs to a larger band format in the first place. Overall, it's another well-crafted item from a brand of quality.