When the pandemic began, and the world shut down, so did the process of creating for Iron & Wines Sam Beam. In its place was a domesticity that the singer hadnt felt in a long time, and although it was filled with many rewards, making music was not one of them.

Reflecting on that time, Beam notes:
I feel blessed and grateful that I and most of my friends and family made it through the pandemic relatively unscathed compared to so many others, but it completely paralyzed the songwriter in me. The last thing I wanted to write about was COVID, and yet every moment I sat with my pen, it lingered around the edges and wouldnt leave. This lasted for over two years.

The journey back began with a recording session in Memphis to record a handful of Lori McKenna tracks for the EP Lori with friend and producer Matt Ross-Spang. Light Verse arrives April 26th, and its Iron & Wines seventh full-length overall and fifth for Sub Pop Records. Fashioned as an album that should be taken as a whole, it sounds lovingly handmade and self-assured as a secret handshake. Track by track, its equal parts elegy, kaleidoscope, truth, and dare.