Hen’s Teeth – Iron & Wine – Album Review
by Cathy Brown

There’s something quietly companionable about Hen’s Teeth, the eighth studio album from Iron & Wine, aka Sam Beam. Drawn from the same 2024 sessions as Beam’s previous album Light Verses, the record carries a distinct sense of continuation — almost twinning — as though these songs were always intended to exist in dialogue. If Light Verses felt expansive and assured, Hen’s Teeth leans further into that openness, with first single “In Your Ocean” acting as a natural bridge between the two: sonically familiar, gently luminous, and rooted in the same rich palette.

Beam has said he drew inspiration from Astral Weeks by Van Morrison, and you can hear it in the looseness of the arrangements. There’s a sense of the songs being allowed to stretch and breathe, unconcerned with tidy structures. Lyrically, the album is darker than its predecessor, yet it remains infused with a cinematic glow: piano lines add contour and atmosphere, while Beam’s trademark layered vocals bind everything together.

The ‘60s and ‘70s undertow is impossible to ignore. At times, the melodic phrasing and intertwined harmonies recall Simon & Garfunkel; elsewhere, there’s an understated, soulful warmth that feels closer to Labi Siffre. Yet the album never slips into nostalgia. Instead, it borrows that era’s sense of freedom and applies it to Beam’s quietly evolving songwriting.

“Dates and Dead People” is the record’s most intriguing offering. It shifts time signatures and glides between styles with a kind of casual audacity, refusing to settle into one identifiable shape. The effect is playful but controlled, as if the musicians are testing the elasticity of the song form itself. Elsewhere, “Grace Notes” and “Half Measures” embody a more timeless sensibility, unfolding with old-school poise and a warmth that deepens the album’s broader sense of ease.

“Defiance, Ohio” subtly shifts the geography, leaning into a South American or Spanish inflection that adds rhythmic lift and tonal colour. It’s a gentle detour rather than a dramatic pivot, but it contributes to the album’s overall feeling of curiosity and play. The inclusion of Grammy Award-winning folk trio I’m With Her on “Wait Up” and “Robin’s Egg” adds another layer of light. Their vocals bring a brightness that contrasts beautifully with Beam’s hushed delivery, giving both songs an airy clarity.

While Hen’s Teeth shares an undeniable DNA with Light Verses, it also feels less anchored to expectation. The overall atmosphere is one of playful enjoyment, the record brimming with a sense of musicians having fun. The songs here lean heavily on atmosphere and inspired by that freeform spirit of Astral Weeks, they open outward toward possibility.

In that openness lies the album’s quiet strength. Hen’s Teeth feels companionable, generous, and faintly radiant, a sibling record that doesn’t simply extend what came before but gently refracts it into new light.