{"id":34039,"date":"2013-05-14T09:00:13","date_gmt":"2013-05-14T15:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/?p=34039"},"modified":"2013-05-14T08:15:14","modified_gmt":"2013-05-14T14:15:14","slug":"music-matters-sweetly-singing-over-the-pain-in-iron-amp-wines-ghost-on-ghost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2013\/05\/music-matters-sweetly-singing-over-the-pain-in-iron-amp-wines-ghost-on-ghost\/","title":{"rendered":"Music Matters: Sweetly Singing over the Pain in Iron & Wine’s ‘Ghost on Ghost’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Each Tuesday in Music Matters<\/a>, Matthew Linder<\/a> explores the intersections of music, culture, and faith.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Iron & Wine\u2019s new\u00a0album\u00a0explores pain and\u00a0vulnerability within the context of a relationship\u2019s many stages. Listen to the entire album on Spotify here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Listening to Iron & Wine is like wrapping yourself in a warm, soft, and cuddly blanket and drinking espresso\u00a0while a poet recites stories of love from a coffee-shop stage.\u00a0Reminiscent of the\u00a0lush and\u00a0intricately crafted\u00a0soft rock\u00a0of bands\u00a0like The Carpenters\u00a0and Air Supply, Iron & Wine\u2019s Ghost on Ghost<\/em> follows the story of a couple. According to Sam Beam<\/a>: \u201cI had a lot of songs that had this central character\u2014this couple. They weren\u2019t necessarily the same couple. It was this couple against the world in a certain way or against one another. They were working something out.\u201d<\/p>\n

This narrative thread flows through each of the tracks on Ghost on Ghost<\/em> but each individual song is treated as a poetic realization of a particular moment in a couple\u2019s journey through life together. Beam begins the story in a place of vulnerability as \u201cthe couple\u201d enters into\u00a0a relationship as broken people in \u201cCaught\u00a0In the Briars.\u201d She is \u201cfragile as china\u201d and he is falling \u201chard in the doorway\u201d as one of \u201cthe sinners here\u201d who \u201chave crosses for Sunday.\u201d But as Beam notes in an interview with NPR<\/a>, the following lines reveal the pain of vulnerability as \u201cthe couple\u201d begins their love story:<\/p>\n

That all of the naked boys
\nThat laid down beside her
\nSing her the saddest song
\nAll caught in the briars<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

http:\/\/youtu.be\/3tbleNn7eXs<\/p>\n

It is that intermix of vulnerability and pain which is a consistent theme throughout the album. However, Beam sets these painful relational moments against a backdrop of sweet honey-dripping music without the whine and cry of something like Dashboard Confessional\u2019s \u201cThe Bitter Pill.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

The ensuing vignette of\u00a0 \u201cThe Desert Babbler\u201d<\/a> shows a man and woman\u00a0spiraling\u00a0out of control with a loss of faith in themselves and in faith itself. Brian Wilson-esque fluffy vocal harmonies hold back the\u00a0excruciating\u00a0pain of defeat: \u201cWho knew what you could learn to live without\/\u00a0Mother Mary\u2019s lying in your mouth, now\u201d and \u201cBack home the hammer always has to fall\/\u00a0Cross is barely hanging on the wall.\u201d<\/p>\n

But then out of this comes \u201cJoy\u201d but an incomplete joy one that is messy and full of holes. The soft flowing echoes of Beam\u2019s voice lift that joy higher as if slowly being raised on a cloud into the deep blue sky. This is a subdued, realistic joy missing the\u00a0exuberance\u00a0of a Pollyanna excitement over the newness of the relationship:<\/p>\n

Deep inside the heart of this crazy mess,
\nI\u2019m only calm when I get lost within your wilderness.
\nBorn crooked as a creek, didn\u2019t come to contest that you\u2019ve been bringing me joy.
\nWhen I\u2019m alive I\u2019m living for you,
\nWhen I\u2019m a bluebird dying, but their singing the blues,
\nAnd it\u2019s a heartfelt silly sort of bumbling tune about how you\u2019re bringing me joy.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n