Iron & Wine, the solo project of multi-instrumentalist and producer Sam Beam, has announced their eighth full-length album, “Hen’s Teeth”, is due out on February 27th via Sub Pop and available to preorder here. To accompany the announcement, Iron & Wine has shared a video for the track ‘In Your Ocean‘. It’s one of several songs on the album in which lovers are depicted as so deeply entwined they physically merge. “Praying for dry ground / Though I only want to drown / When I find myself swimming in your ocean.” You can watch the video, directed by Spencer Kelly, below.
The album arrives fully formed but sits as a sibling record, of sorts, to 2024’s acclaimed and Grammy-nominated “Light Verse“. Its seeds were sewn during the multiple sessions done over the last few years in the foothills of Los Angeles, with studio owner/engineer Dave Way (Fiona Apple, Jakob Dylan, Sheryl Crow) at the helm. The record features many familiar names from the Iron & Wine universe – David Garza, Sebastian Steinberg, Tyler Chester, Griffin Goldsmith, Beth Goodfellow, Kyle Crane and Paul Cartwright – lending their talents to a collection of songs that, while complementary in nature, had their own distinct feel.
This album also includes a few new, fresh voices; the Grammy-winning Americana trio I’m With Her – Sarah Jarosz, Aoife O’Donovan, and Sara Watkins – are featured on two tracks. The trio bring their harmonising prowess to the track ‘Robin’s Egg‘ and in the tender ‘Wait Up‘. The record also marks the recording debut of Arden Beam. Arden (one of Beam’s daughters) contributes harmonies and backing vocals on ‘Roses,’ ‘Singing Saw,’ ‘Defiance, Ohio,’ and ‘Grace Notes.’
The title “Hen’s Teeth”, much like the birth of this record, takes its inspiration from something that should not exist; a happy accident that fell out of enjoying the company of the aforementioned players in a setting that offered creativity and inspiration. As Beam states: “To me it suggests the impossible. Hen’s teeth do not exist. And that’s what this record felt like: a gift that shouldn’t be there, but it is. An impossible thing, but it’s real.”
Iron & Wine have announced a world tour beginning in late February in Australia & New Zealand, with headline dates in North America, running from April to May, and newly announced dates in October. Stay tuned for news of UK shows.
“Hen’s Teeth” Tracklist:
1. Roses
2. Paper and Stone
3. Robin’s Egg (featuring I’m With Her)
4. Singing Saw
5. In Your Ocean
6. Defiance, Ohio
7. Wait Up (featuring I’m With Her)
8. Grace Notes
9. Dates and Dead People
10. Half Measures
