Sam Beam’s songs sound a lot better in this stripped-down form. A friend of mine said that Beam is probably this generation’s Dave Matthews. From what I’ve heard of the new record, he’s certainly in danger of that. Some singers need to add more to their songs, but Beam’s songs just don’t do well when weighed down beneath layers of studio. I’m looking at you Shepherd’s Dog, and I’m glowering at you, new record out tomorrow. I’m no encase-it-in-amber purist; I like it when songwriters stretch their sound. But Beam hasn’t taken his music in a very interesting or necessary direction, nor has the sound he’s alighted upon done his otherwise precise songs any justice.
As a side note, his brief asides in between songs concerning songwriting are worth listening to; they underscore his care as a writer and how needlessly overproduced his records are getting to be.