In The Reins

Today's Music That Is Pretty Great but Also Gets Blogged About Because It's Too Hot Outside is In The Reins, from Iron & Wine and Calexico. This is a short album, an 'EP' as the kids say now, but it's very much quality over quantity.

This album, rather than featuring a clash of styles, features something of a mesh of styles. It has the hushed, reserved Iron & Wine vocals and guitar, but also something of the pop-mariachi sound of Calexico. The whole effect seems to find a happy middle, though most songs lean one way or the other. It's a wonderful collaboration, something that allows the individual talents to shine while not overexposing anyone.

The strings on this album are restrained but suit the mood well; the vocal harmonies are very much in the same vein. As a whole, this EP makes me wish that Sam Beam and the gents from Calexico would maybe get snowed in somewhere that had lots of scratch paper and some instruments, just for the sake of giving us all a full-length album. But for now, we have In The Reins, and let's not take it lightly. I won't go into much detail on specific songs, but I am partial to the title track ("He Lays In The Reins"). If it doesn't evoke something from you, well, you probably aren't doing it right.

In Other News:
What a ridiculous weekend. It was great, but let's hope it doesn't happen again for a while. :p