Beast Epic
Iron & Wine · 2017
35 min · 11 tracks · country music
Gentle melodies intertwine with introspective lyrics, creating a serene landscape of nostalgia and reflection.
Top tracks — play these first
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Claim Your Ghost Start here — This opening track sets the tone for the album with its haunting melody and reflective lyrics about loss and memory, inviting listeners into Beam's introspective world.
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Call It Dreaming — With its lush instrumentation and evocative imagery, this track embodies the album's themes of hope and longing, making it a standout moment.
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The Truest Stars We Know — This closing piece captures the essence of the album's narrative arc, blending melancholy with beauty as it reflects on life's fleeting moments.
Elevation
Our rating, out of 100 — and why.
AI-generated from five scored dimensions. An opinion, not a measurement.
The album combines introspective lyrics with gentle melodies, showcasing strong songwriting and cohesive flow.
What we noticed
- The first half of the album features a consistent mid-tempo pace, while the second half introduces more varied arrangements and slower tempos.
- Several tracks feature layered vocal harmonies that create a rich texture, particularly in 'Call It Dreaming' and 'The Truest Stars We Know'.
- Lyrically, the album employs vivid imagery and personal storytelling, with each song often focusing on a singular theme or moment.
- Composition 25% of the score
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7/10
- Craft 20% of the score
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8/10
- Durability 25% of the score
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6/10
- Distinctiveness 18% of the score
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6/10
- Sequencing 12% of the score
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7/10
the writing — melody, harmony, structure, lyrics
production, performance, arrangement
whether it rewards returning to it
whether it sounds like itself
running order, pacing, length
Known within its scene. Reported but not counted — how far a record travelled describes its reception rather than the record, and a newer release has had less time to travel than an older one.
Is this for you?
Good fit if you like
- steady mid-tempo reflective moments
- introspective listening in solitude
- tender explorations of memory
- warm melodies for quiet evenings
Maybe skip if you
- seeking high-energy tracks
- prefer short standalone songs
Where this album fits
- In the catalog
- Late Career Highlight — Shows continued vitality with a return to a quieter, folk-oriented style.
- Career context
- Beast Epic is Iron & Wine's fifth studio album, released after the critically acclaimed Ghost on Ghost in 2013. By this time, Sam Beam had established himself as a poignant songwriter, blending folk and country influences into his signature sound. The album continues his exploration of intimate storytelling while showcasing a more polished production approach.
- Stylistic neighbors
- Sufjan Stevens· Nick Drake· Fleet Foxes
Tracklist
- 1 Claim Your Ghost Start here 2:29
- 2 Thomas County Law 3:25
- 3 Bitter Truth 3:03
- 4 Song in Stone 3:22
- 5 Summer Clouds 3:34
- 6 Call It Dreaming 3:52
- 7 About a Bruise 3:11
- 8 Last Night 2:56
- 9 Right for Sky 4:00
- 10 The Truest Stars We Know 2:53
- 11 Our Light Miles 3:12
Reference: Wikipedia · MusicBrainz · Wikidata
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