Kiss Each Other Clean, Iron & Wine’s fourth full-length record, was originally released in 2011 and came three years after his biggest selling record up to that point, The Shepherd’s Dog. The bands two earlier albums had been sparse, intimate solo affairs that offered no hint of the direction he would take with records three and four. Like The Shepherd’s Dog, Kiss Each Other Clean is layered with textures, poly-rhythmic sounds and a more is more approach.

His lyrics sprung to life in ways initially unimaginable to early fans and critics helping each song tell its story and build to climaxes thru various sounds and editing techniques. However what remained at the core of KEOC, and what fans of the band had come to love, was the song writing and singing of principle songwriter Sam Beam. Beam’s ability to invite you in with his hushed singing tone and knack for a melody remained front and center even in his drive to replicate something in the vein of Waits’.

Swordfishtormbones Principle recording for KEOC was at home in Dripping Springs, Texas. After laying down the bulk of the record Beam moved recording to Chicago to work with Brian Deck. A cast of musicians helped Beam find his sound and see his vision for KEOC including Joe Adamik (Califone), Jim Becker (Califone), Thomas Bartlett (Doveman), Stuart Bogie (Antibalas), Rob Burger (Tin Hat Trio), Benny Massarella (Red Red Meat/Califone), Chad Taylor (Chicago Underground Duo) and Matt Lux (Isotope 217).

With KEOC, Beam and company brought in soft rock smoothness, dub reggae textures, and instruments that hadn’t been featured on previous records. The vintage synths on “Monkeys Uptown”, the Stevie Wonder funk on “Big Burned Hand,”, the strum and drang of “Walking Far From Home” all give the otherwise very organic-sounding arrangements a welcome cheesy kick. The record also produced the biggest radio single of the bands career with the vintage AM friendly vibes of “Tree by the River”. It was an adventurous period in the career in Iron & Wine and one in which Beam was defying categorization.