The Sea & the Rhythm | 
 enlarge | Artist: Iron & Wine
Label: Sub Pop
Category: Music
List Price: $8.98
Buy New: $5.62
You Save: $3.36 (37%)
New (36) Used (14) from $4.99
Rating:  14 reviews
Sales Rank: 47650
Format: Ep
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 619
UPC: 098787061925
EAN: 0098787061925
ASIN: B0000BWVM3
Release Date: September 9, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: BRAND NEW, Factory Sealed items direct from the Studios. 30 Day Satisfaction Guarantee. Quick International Airmail!
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| Tracks:
| • | Beneath the Balcony | | • | The Sea and the Rhythm | | • | The Night Descending | | • | Jesus the Mexican Boy | | • | Someday the Waves |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
This twenty-minute EP is a five-song companion piece to Sam Beam aka Iron & Wine's exceptional 2002 debut, The Creek Drank the Cradle. Culled from sessions in Sam's Florida house between 1999 and 2002, everything that made that left-field album of often beautiful and sometimes strange folk music is here. There's Beam's deft banjo and slide guitar playing, his hushed and lovely but somehow very intense vocals, and those wonderful cryptic Southern Gothic lyrics. The words are sung clearly and they're worth chewing over; infused with religious overtones and muted irony, they're never corny and invite multiple interpretations. A highlight is the audience favorite "Jesus the Mexican Boy," one of his most beautiful and touching songs to date. PS: Your copy did not get water-damaged; like the intentionally lo-fidelity recording sound, it's supposed to look like that! --Mike McGonigal
Album Description
5 songs recorded in Sam Beam's bedroom from the same sessions that gave us 2002's The Creek Drank the Cradle. The Sea and the Rhythm includes "Jesus the Mexican Boy," which has been a big audience favorite at recent Iron and Wine shows.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Lo-fi gorgeousness October 20, 2005
Mike Smith (Albuquerque, NM)
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
This is the e.p. for all those who loved Iron and Wine's "The Creek Drank the Cradle," got hooked, and found themselves needing more.
It's got almost an identical sound to that album, same lo-fi recording techniques, same dark-empty-church-in-a-Deep-Southern-forest type feel, but to me it feels even more hopeful, and even more peaceful.
"The Sea And The Rhythm" is a beautiful song of love with hushed vocals that crash quietly like waves over sharp and hidden acoustic guitar. "The Night Descending" has a progressing, chugging feel, "Jesus The Mexican Boy" tells a touching story of a sad friendship, and "Someday The Waves" features what I think are the e.p.'s best lyrics, including the line, "Time like your cheek has turned for me."
For those who loved "The Creek Drank the Cradle" but were disappointed by the slickness of Iron and Wine's more recent recordings, you need this e.p if you don't have it already. Buy it NOW.
Short and Succinct September 13, 2005
James Bunnelle
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
I love Iron & Wine's two LPs but I'm definitely of the opinion that singer/songwriter Sam Beam is at his best working with the EP format. He reminds me of those writers who can put down beautiful bits of short prose but whose novels invariably get a bit long-winded. The Sea & the Rhythm and Woman King are his two best efforts thus far, both tight, succinct works that I always find enjoyable. The LPs always seem to run out of steam for me, despite having many essential songs. This follow-up to his debut contains the same lo-fi, 4-track-recorder-in-the-bedroom aesthetic, so if you're a stickler for sonic purity, try out Woman King instead.
how can five songs be so good April 27, 2005
Lem Sportsinterviews (Montreal)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I think this my first EP purchase ever - and I generally feel that, despite the quality many offer, EPs just are not worth it. Sam Beam was clearly on a mission to change my mind, as these apparent "outtakes" from The Creek Drank The Cradle are every bit as good as that miracle debut - if not better. I only very recently discovered Iron and Wine through Our Endless Numbered Days, and have since been backtracking only to see that this remarkably talented artist can do no wrong. The standout track to me is The Night Descending, it has the feel of a track pulled right out of the past. The other four tracks are just as excellent though, and I think Sam's managed to make an avid fan out of me. Damn... and just when I thought there were no new artists to be excited about!
worth EVERY penny February 4, 2005
Scott Leahy (Somewhere in the California desert, USA)
1 out of 7 found this review helpful
i was a little apprehensive in buying this ep as it only has five songs, but this is just as incredible as TCDTC. 'jesus' is by no means bad or weak musically- it is some of the best story-telling i have heard in a song and isn't that what folk is about?
if you want trendy and passe, atonal garbage, then do yourself a favor and buy the latest dunghill associated with conor oberst. however if you want relaxing, beautiful, melodic, and flat-out good acoustic genius, then iron and wine is just what you need.
Where has Sam Beam been all my life? September 14, 2004
Lauren Mitchell (Asheville, NC)
15 out of 15 found this review helpful
I listen to this EP like it's my job. I don't remember bedtime without it. It fits the mood, it spends time with you, it calms your frazzled nerves and lets you know that everything will be okay again. It is an essential in your collection of mellow music. It is what downtempo was meant to be. It is literate, wise, simple, and, most important in the sparse-music genre, it is complete.
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