Brightest Young Things

Volume please: It would be easy to dismiss “Around The Well” as something of need for the Iron and Wine completist only, but that would be missing out on some excellent songwriting. While a collection such as this, two discs jammed with odds and ends, has little chance of holding together as a full album – this one does something that might be even more important: Sam Beam’s songwriting and performances are more often than not - stripped bare in these settings, and they come across as more powerful and engaging in a lot of cases. Tiny little touches like the burst of frenzied strumming in Beam’s take on Stereolab’s “Peng 33” that compliment the lilting melody and hushed (and stretched for a whisper) singing. “Friends They Are Jewels” staggers about like a drunken banjo player. The Flaming Lips “Waitin’ For A Superman” is reduced to a heavy melancholy, once the bombast of the original is shaken off. It is barely recognizable, other than the sweet chorus, yet it takes on a newfound beauty and elegance where before it rested on quirky energy.

At this point, you might have realized that the full effect is perhaps a recipe for sitting in the darkness alone, but the part of Beam’s work that I have always enjoyed is the feel of him solitary and playing these songs before he puts down his guitar – cleansed like a pentacoastal preacher – and finally opens the door and lets the sun beat down on his face, eyes closed and peaceful. You can almost hear him singing the Postal Service's new classic “Such Great Heights” in the background, as his hand turns the knob and the first bit of light seeps through the cracks.

The second disc reinforces the higher fidelity Beam and crew would take on over the years as well as the religious imagery via “Communion Cups And Someone’s Coat” which bathes in a bright guitar figure as it merges into the first full band arrangement, bouncing around a kid “outside the church kicking a can,” and the shuffling “God Made The Automobile” that finally quiets on “Homeward These Shoes.” It is a different weight brought on by the God in New Order’s brilliant “Love Vigilantes.” Rescued from a 2004 public radio session, the song is unshakeable, but that’s not to say that Beam doesn’t instill it with his own charms and it quickly emerges as a highlight. It is a song and performance that resonates far too closely with our times and has been appropriately singled out as the radio track.

It isn’t until “Shining Hands” that you even remotely feel like you have a possible b-side before you, and we have already digested 16 songs! “No Moon” brings about the clanging strut employed on his later discs – like someone trying to calm down Tom Waits following a binge. Afterwards, the trappings Beam has ventured into start to drape the tunes with Middle-Eastern swirls on “Serpent Charmer” (not as successful) and the more Waitsian pots and pans bell sound of “Carried Home” (more successful due to essentially being old school Beam over the top.) “Kingdom Of The Animals” saloon style piano was always a little much for me, but the experimentation of “Arms Of A Thief” are more interesting before the long live standard “Trapeze Swinger” closes us out. The final feeling is akin to seeing a two-hour performance that left you so transfixed that you didn’t even notice the band didn’t play one of their myriad of hits. Pretty amazing.

Great (and long) show – we get it. But what does it look like? (In the act of full disclosure I have written a book about Sub Pop Art Director Jeff Kleinsmith that has yet to be published. Part of that process included interviewing Dusty about working with Jeff.) Dusty Summers has long held my attention with his work as one half of the Philly-based dynamic duo, The Heads of State, along with Jason Kernevich. Quickly growing past their initial forays, into a sophisticated style of visual problem solving, their work is now at the leading edge of design today. I was intrigued by the pair’s move into illustration and even more excited when Dusty took a position across the country at Sub Pop while still staying involved with HoS. I knew that he would be pushed in completely different directions working across from Kleinsmith, while still growing organically with Kernevich.

His work at Sub Pop has been far removed from the work Jeff does, as well as his direction at HoS. Taking on beardy bands like Band of Horses and Fleet Foxes, he has found the role of a very traditional designer with solid results, but perhaps lacking the instant sizzle in his illustrations. During this phase, he has handled one of the most difficult assignments a designer can be tasked with – working with a strong and determined artist who insists on using his own artwork in his packaging. I would be lying if I didn’t confess that during my round of interviews I caught Dusty on the phone with Beam explaining to him how some software worked. To say that I cringed would be an understatement. (Any long-time reader of the column knows my feelings about musician submitted art – only eclipsed by musician’s girlfriend submitted art.)

Beam, to his credit, is a decent painter, but it certainly doesn’t compare with his songwriting abilities or the design capabilities of Summers. Somehow Dusty has kept his packaging interesting, which is admirable, but probably not as fulfilling as it could be. For this collection Beam is still involved (taking a co-credit on art direction) but Summers takes the center stage.

On first blush, I assumed the cover to be a collection of manipulated chopped tree trunks, but as I dug further and saw the funny little distinctions and what looked like roads and farms I was excited to see that they are actually from the USGS EROS collection of land satellite images (Susan Oyama takes credit for coordinating the process.) It makes the investigation of the entire package pretty fun and engaging as well as adding an immense amount of depth to the initial images. An earthy color palette is followed throughout as is the highlight of the design – Summers hand drawn typography. The key is the detail and restraint he applies in keeping the organic nature of drawing the letterforms but confining them tightly to the grid anchoring the design.

That alone would add a great deal of interest (and delights me when I see no corners cut as every last “E” differs just a little) but it is his choices in what to bold and highlight in the text that makes it leap to the next level. Using “And” as the focus on the cover is only the beginning as he uses this effect adeptly throughout the booklet – a joy in it’s own right. He then makes a critical decision: where most would continue that look on the tracklisting, Summers instead chooses to alter size and width to fit his grid, but keeps the line weight consistent so that no song is highlighted over another. It is the right thing to do and it makes all the difference.

The entire release goes a long way towards pointing Beam into a clear future should he decide to pursue his strengths. When he holds to a solid song, he can be magical and unique and he need not experiment until he has such a structure in place. When he allows his designer to apply the same thinking, it becomes a massive victory for all involved.

For Those Keeping Score At Home: Music 7.5 Design 8.0

John Foster owns his very own design firm, Bad People Good Things and is the author of For Sale: Over 200 Innovative Solutions in Packaging Design (HOW), New Masters of Poster Design (Rockport), Maximum Page Design (HOW) as well as an upcoming collection of handmade graphics entitled Dirty Fingernails for Rockport and a monograph on Jeff Kleinsmith for Sub Pop Records.