Rating: NNN
More than any of his beard-folk contemporaries, Iron & Wine’s Sam Beam understands the crucial importance of a strong melody for putting across a tune with minimal acoustic backing and a weak voice. The six-song Woman King EP features more of the same brooding strum-alongs we’ve come to expect from Beam, with the requisite Biblical references carefully deployed in an attempt to avoid any sort of religious-freak pigeonholing. The only real difference here is the slightly expanded sonic palette, which now involves a judicious use of electric guitar. It’s all just a cautious step sideways by a self-aware artist who doesn’t want to blow a good thing by taking risks.