Initial pressings of OUR ENDLESS NUMBERED DAYS comes with a 4-song bonus CD.
Iron & Wine: Sam Beam, Sara Beam, Patrick McKinney, Jeff McGriff, EJ Holowicki, Jonathan Bradley.
Recorded at Engine Deck Studios, Chicago, Illinois in 2003.
Recording information: 2003.
On Our Endless Numbered Days, the follow-up to 2002's stunningly good Creek Drank the Cradle, the sound of Iron & Wine has changed but the song remains the same. No longer does Sam Beam record his intimate songs in the intimate surroundings of his home. Instead he has made the jump to the recording studio. As a result the record is much cleaner, less cocoon-like, certainly more the product of someone who has become a professional musician and not someone who just records for fun on a four-track. However, all Beam has sacrificed is sound quality. The sound of the record is still very intimate and simple, with very subtle arrangements that leave his voice and lyrics as the focal point. Luckily all the technology in the world can't affect Beam's voice, which still sounds like it comes right from his lips into your ear as if he were an angel perched on your shoulder. His songs are still as strong and memorable as they were on Creek, no drop off whatsoever in quality. "Naked as We Came" with sparkling melody lovely background harmonies by his sister Sara; the aching folk ballad "Radio War," which wouldn't sound out of place on Prairie Home Companion, only it would be the best thing you ever heard there; the sad and sweet "Each Coming Night"; the crystalline acoustic guitar ballad "Fever Dream," which has the kind of vocal harmony between Beam and his sister that seems to be the exclusive domain of siblings; and the soft rock CSNY "Sodom, South Georgia" are the equal of anything on Iron & Wine's debut and match up well with anything Palace, Smog, or their ilk have done lately. A definite plus to recording in a studio and enlisting the help of outside musicians is that there is much more variety to the album and there are lots of small production touches that liven things up like the Native American chants at the close of "Cinder and Smoke," the pedal steel guitar on "Sunset Soon Forgotten," and the drums and tambourine on the bluesy "Free Until They Cut Me Down." Our Endless Numbered Days is very subdued, thoughtful, melodic, and downright beautiful album and the new sound is more of a progression than a sudden shift in values, production or otherwise. Anyone who found the first album to be wonderful will no doubt feel the same about this one. Heck, you might even like it more. ~ Tim Sendra
While Sam Beam's self-recorded first outing as Iron & Wine, THE CREEK DRANK THE CRADLE, features a hushed bedroom atmosphere, his second full-length album, OUR ENDLESS NUMBERED DAYS, invites listeners into a slightly larger living room. Here there's enough space for an outside producer (Brian Deck) and additional musicians (including Sam's sister Sara on harmony vocals). Though Beam's musical palette has broadened to occasionally include drums, bass, and various stringed instruments, the spare, Southern Gothic tone remains intact, thanks to his distinctive, whispered vocals and literate lyrics.
The album opener, "On Your Wings," slowly builds from acoustic- and slide-guitar lines before fading back into its own dreamy oblivion. On "Cinder and Smoke," Beam quietly observes that "the farmhouse is burning down" over a chanted backdrop, while "Free Until They Cut Me Down" initially sounds like Johnny Cash's bluesy take on Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus" until Beam's honeyed voice enters. And although the vocals of Cash and Beam are nearly polar opposites, Beam shares the late Man in Black's penchant for themes of nature, death, and spiritual yearning. A gorgeous collection of rustic songs, OUR ENDLESS NUMBERED DAYS furthers Beam's songwriting without sacrificing its intimacy.

Spin (4/04, pp.89-91) - "[T]he songs unfold like hopeful prayers before the musicians launch them skyward....He writes with the self-confidence of a man at peace with his gauzy gifts." - Grade: A
Uncut (5/04, p.106) - 4 stars out of 5 - "[Beam is a] quietly compelling songwriter, one whose shyness complements his music rather than undermines it."
Magnet (p.67) - Ranked #11 in Magnet's "The 20 Best Albums Of 2004" - "Sam Beam's voice never rises above a hushed whisper, an his fingerpicked acoustic guitar unfurls like time-lapse photography."
CMJ (3/15/04, p.4) - "ENDLESS flows mellifluously with sparkling, fingerpicked acoustic guitars and thick vocals."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.93) - 4 stars out of 5 - "[A]n extended treatise on human mortality and the inevitable passing of time - glowering existentialism glimpsed through sweet, Southern fecundity....Contrastingly life-affirming."