Sam Beam, will you marry me?

Last night in a desperate act to relieve my boredom I decided to browse through the video archives of the L.A. based radio show Morning Becomes Eclectic (KCRW 89.9). Hosted by Nic Harcourt, the studio brings in a variety of non-mainstream independent bands and musicians to perform live and talk about their lives. I found and watched a lot of my favorite bands--Bright Eyes, Mojave 3, M. Ward, Polyphonic Spree, etc. And then I found the archive of a recent show with Sam Beam of Iron and Wine. I was completely taken. I couldn't take my eyes or ears away for the entire 38 minutes and 31 seconds of the show.

I was first introduced to Iron and Wine by my friend Andrew in 2004 and immediately put him at the top of my favorite bands list. If you know me really well, you know that my music listening habits usually follow a pattern--I find a band that I love, listen to them obsessively for a while, then get tired and take a break for a while and move on to another band. But throughout all of the comings and goings there have remained two musical constants in my life--the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Iron & Wine. I don't know what it is that entraps me--the poetry, the melodies, his earthy beard and locks--maybe all of them wrapped up in one. No matter how much I listen to his music, it never gets old. I was talking with Andrew about this a while ago and he said it good when he pointed out that Sam Beam can somehow sing the same tune over and over again and it never gets boring.

A lot of the time I have no idea what he's singing about and I think that's part of what draws me in. Literalness is annoying and scary and I usually prefer to stick with the abstract. But there's something more to it than that. This music inspires me to think and feel something real and I just can't forget about it. It's like a Litmus Lozenge. It makes you feel all sad and happy at the same time. I've been sitting here for a while trying to think of a better way to describe it, but I think I'll just let you listen and then I won't have to.

If you don't have time to watch it at least check out my three favorite songs around 18:24, 26:42 and 7:48.