It was about 10:30 p.m. when I cried to a song from the Twilight soundtrack being played live in front of me in The Fillmore. “Flightless Bird, American Mouth” is a longstanding favorite of mine. The song came out when I was eight years old, and it’s hard to imagine a time when I wasn’t listening to it. What started as the best song from the cringiest franchise now serves as a touchstone of nostalgia and romance.
Nostalgic romance is how I would describe much of Iron and Wine’s discography. About two thirds of the way through the set, Samuel Ervin Beam gave the band a bit of a break and played a few songs solo. Among them was “Each Coming Night”, a song about love and loss, and its tender lyrics rocked the crowd with the same strength as if it were played with a full band.
Iron and Wine | photo by Danielle Ciampaglia for WXPN
Beam surrounded himself with the best musicians possible. He has violinists doubling as vocalists, a drummer who does auxiliary percussion and sings, among a slew of other people wearing multiple hats. But somehow the most notable part of the show wasn’t the music at all, but the visuals. A Chicago based art collective called Manual Cinema is on tour with Iron and Wine. It was two people operating three overhead projectors, holding up storybook style paper cutouts that were being projected behind the band. Sometimes, they themselves would stand in front of the projectors and appear in front of the crowd, choreographing themselves along with the music. It felt almost like a live music video right in front of us.
Rosali | photo by Danielle Ciampaglia for WXPN
Opener Rosali set the tone for the night with her three bandmates. The four piece’s stage setup is closer to that of an intimate bar more than a stage as big as The Fillmore’s. Her bassist and fellow guitarist are close to her, all with mics to sing with her and close enough to jam with her. What stuck with me through the set was the truly impressive guitar work. Their sound is similar to that of The Paper Kites, with guitar style in the realm of Big Thief’s Buck Meek.
This show was the perfect one to unplug a little and listen to the music. Iron and Wine thrives the most lyrically, making it easy to connect with songs you might’ve never heard before, and songs you’ve listened to forever.