• News

• All

May 02, 2019 By Christopher Roberts Calexico and Iron & Wine

Calexico (Joey Burns and John Convertino) and Iron & Wine (aka Sam Beam) are releasing a new collaborative album, Years to Burn, on June 14 via Sub Pop. Previously they shared its first single, “Father Mountain.” Now they have shared another song from the album, “Midnight Sun,” via an animated video for the track featuring illustrations by Beam. Watch it below, followed by some upcoming collaborative tour dates.

The song features vocals from both Beam and Burns. Animator Jonny Sanders made the video.

Burns had this to say about the song in a press release: “Sam sent some demos the week before we met to record the album. Based on the feel of those demos I wrote the song ‘Midnight Sun’ the day I got to Nashville. I arrived at our rental house the day before everyone else and was happy to find a piano, old pump organ, and guitar to do some writing. I was up late and came up with a tune that would bridge both bands’ worlds. I started with a drone in F# and was curious as to where it would take me.”

Calexico and Iron & Wine previously collaborated on In the Reins, an EP released in 2005. Beam was a fresher face back then and was intimidated by working with the more established Calexico. “In my mind, I was a guy who knew three chords and recorded in a closet,” Beam reflected in a previous press release announcing Years to Burn. “They were playing big stages and were superb musicians.”

Beam added: “They were the perfect band at the perfect time for me. I loved all their different sounds. They’re musical anthropologists, not regurgitating but absorbing what they discover.”

Beam said that it was important to him to collaborate with Calexico again some 14 years later: “Coming back to the project has to do with acknowledging how much impact the first record had for me in my life.”

Whereas Beam wrote all the lyrics on In the Reins, all three members were involved in the lyric writing this time. Years to Burn was produced with Matt Ross-Spang and recorded over the course of five days at Sound Emporium, in Nashville. The album also features Calexico trumpet player Jacob Valenzuela and Paul Niehaus on pedal steel, along with previous Beam collaborators Rob Burger on piano and Sebastian Steinberg on bass.

Of Years to Burn‘s album title, Beam offered this insight: “Life is hard. Awesome. And scary as shit. But it can lift you up if you let it. These are the things Joey and I write about now. And the title can encapsulate a lot of things. ‘Years to Burn’ could mean you’re cocky, you’ve got it made. Or, our life is ours to burn, to be inspired. Or you’re burned by life, brutalized. It’s an ambiguous title, because life is complicated. Let’s not talk like teenagers about love, desire, pain, ‘cause we’re not teenagers. And that’s not a bad thing.”

In terms of the long gap between collaborative releases, Burns explained: “This project had to find the right time. We’re all different people than we were in 2004, and music helps to bridge some of the gaps. For all the things going on in our world and in each of our lives, this connection, this friendship, this love that we have-this album is a vehicle for that bond. It’s a chance to see where we’re at, take stock and be there for our friends.”

Iron & Wine also recently released a deluxe reissue of his 2004-released second album, Our Endless Numbered Days, which features the classic “Naked as We Came.” The reissue included eight previously unheard demos.

Iron & Wine’s last album was 2017’s Beast Epic.

Read our 2017 interview with Iron & Wine on Beast Epic.

Calexico’s last album was 2018’s The Thread That Keeps Us.

Calexico and Iron & Wine Tour Dates:

6/18/19 Tue SAXAPAHAW, NC @ Haw River Ballroom % **SOLD OUT**
6/21/19 Fri BROOKLYN, NY @ Celebrate Brooklyn
7/19/19 Fri LISBON, PT @ Super Bock Super Rock
7/20/19 Sat ARLESHEIM, CH @ Stimmen Festival
7/22/19 Mon MILANO, IT @ La Triennale di Milano
7/23/19 Tue GARDONE RIVIERA, IT @ Anfiteatro del Vittoriale
7/24/19 Wed ROME, IT @ Villa Ada
7/25/19 Thurs FLORENCE, IT @ Cavea del Nuovo Teatro dell’opera
7/26/19 Fri MONFORTE D’ALBA, IT @ Auditorium Horszowski
7/28/19 Sun VIENNA, AT @ Konzerthaus
7/29/19 Mon PALMA, ES @ Auditorium de Palma de Mallorca
7/31/19 Wed HAMBURG, DE @ Stadtpark
8/2/19 Fri CAMBRIDGE, UK @ Cambridge Folk Festival
8/3/19 Sat LEUVEN, BE @ M-idzommer Festival
8/4/19 Sun CROZON, FR @ Festival Du Bout Du Monde
8/16/19 Fri PHOENIX, AZ @ Orpheum Theatre ~
8/17/19 Sat TUCSON, AZ @ Rialto Theatre ~
8/18/19 Sun TAOS, NM @ Meow Wolf Taos Vortex
8/19/19 Mon DENVER, CO @ Denver Botanic Gardens ~ **SOLD OUT**
8/21/19 Wed OGDEN, UT @ Twilight Series at Ogden Amphitheater ^
8/22/19 Thu BOISE, ID @ Knitting Factory Concert House ^
8/23/19 Fri PORTLAND, OR @ Keller Auditorium ^
8/24/19 Sat VANCOUVER, BC @ Vogue Theatre
8/25/19 Sun PORT TOWNSEND, WA @ THING Festival
9/18/19 Wed GRAND RAPIDS, MI @ Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park “Meijer Gardens”
9/19/19 Thu PITTSBURGH, PA @ Roxian Theatre
9/20/19 Fri PHILADELPHIA, PA @ Union Transfer
9/21/19 Sat BOSTON, MA @ Rockland Trust Bank Pavillion +
9/22/19 Sun NORTH ADAMS, MA @ FreshGrass Festival
9/24/19 Tue RICHMOND, VA @ The National
9/26/19 Thu BIRMINGHAM, AL @ Iron City
9/27/19 Fri NEW ORLEANS, LA @ House Of Blues
9/28/19 Sat AUSTIN, TX @ Stubb’s Waller Creek
9/29/19 Sun DALLAS, TX @ Majestic Theater
9/30/19 Mon OKLAHOMA CITY, OK @ Tower Theatre
10/2/19 Wed LAS VEGAS, NV @ House Of Blues
10/3/19 Thu LOS ANGELES, CA @ Orpheum Theatre
10/4/19 Fri SAN DIEGO, CA @ Humphrey’s Concerts by The Bay
10/6/19 Sun SARATOGA, CA @ Mountain Winery
11/5/19 Tue UTRECHT, NL @ TrivoliVrendenburg - Ronda
11/6/19 Wed LUXEMBOURG, LU @ Den Atelier
11/7/19 Thu ANTWERP, BE @ De Roma
11/9/19 Sat BERLIN, DE @ Tempodrom
11/10/19 Sun LINZ, AT @ Posthof
11/11/19 Mon MUNICH, DE @ Muffathalle
11/12/19 Tue BUDAPEST, HU @ Müpa
11/14/19 Thu MANNHEIM, DE @ Musensaal Rosengarten
11/15/19 Fri COLOGNE, DE @ Palladium
11/16/19 Sat PARIS, FR @ La Cigale
11/18/19 Mon EDINBURGH, UK @ Usher Hall *
11/19/19 Tue LIVERPOOL, UK @ Philharmonic Hall *
11/20/19 Wed MANCHESTER, UK @ Bridgewater Hall *
11/21/19 Thurs COVENTRY, UK @ Warwick Arts Centre *
11/23/19 Sat LONDON, UK @ Royal Festival Hall *
11/24/19 Sun BEXHILL-ON-SEA, UK - De La Warr Pavillion *

% with special guest Daughter of Swords
~ with special guest Madison Cunningham
^ with special guest Orville Peck
+ with Andrew Bird
* with special guest Lisa O’Neill

Support Under the Radar on Patreon.