The first time I ever heard Iron & Wine was on his incredible cover of Such Great Heights by The Postal Service. I can tell you exactly where I was when that graced my ears - sat in the ANU campus theatre waiting for the Burton and Garran Hall annual theatre production to start. I have no memory of what the play was about in the slightest, but I do distinctly remember hearing Iron & Wine beforehand. I knew the original and a friend told me it was Iron & Wine singing. It was playing loud enough that it drowned out most of the pre-show chatter and in my memories everyone else was sat there in as much awe as I was. It was pretty lovely.
Two and half years later, I finally bought an Iron & Wine cd. The name had come up a bunch of times in the time between and I was frequently being recommended them. My friend Aled from work was adamant I should watch them at the Explosion in the Sky-curated All Tomorrow's Parties, but I'm pretty sure they clashed with someone else I wanted to see. When Virgin Megastore went into liquidation, the closing down sale was quite an event with hundreds of cds going for dirt-cheap. You had to rummage through boxes and boxes of shit to find anything good, but there were some real treats hidden in there. Amongst the many cds I bought over a period of a few days was Woman King by Iron & Wine. Only six songs but only £3, so worth a shot I figured.
To this day, Woman King remains my favourite Iron & Wine release. The other albums haven't done so much for me, but these six songs are perfect. The vocals float beautifully over the gentle guitar and the other instruments are superbly sparse. Highlights are Jezebel, My Lady's House and Evening on the Ground (the line "we were born to fuck each other / one way or another" always makes me smile). I found this copy in Gainesville the day after Fest last year and decided for $10 I definitely needed it on vinyl. There's nothing particularly noteworthy about the vinyl release, other than the six incredible songs cut into it.
Format: 12", a4 insert
Tracks: 6
Cost: £6.30 new
Bought: Hear Again Music, Gainesville
When: 04/11/13
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: Download code
