Sam Beam has moved mysteriously through a career that’s been full of wonder yet low on drama. The years tick by and, in a world beset with uncertainty, you know that sooner or later, he will gift us another Iron & Wine LP, and that it will be a subtle and gorgeous serving of wistful indie melancholia.

That determination to not frighten the horses is the prevailing mood across the South Carolina artist’s seventh studio album, Light Verse. It marks his return to solo recording after a near six-year gap – though fans will have enjoyed his more rugged 2019 collaboration with Calexico, Years To Burn.

That project had a wide-screen quality: Beam dials it back on Light Verse, an LP that is all about intimacy and moments of quiet awe.

That isn’t to say it’s an album that passes in the night. On the impressive ‘All In Good Time’, he duets with the enigmatic Fiona Apple – whose knowing rasp is a perfect counterpoint to Beam’s weathered croon.

But the real signpost to what lies in store is the opener, ‘You Never Know’ – a delicate tiptoe through a baroque backwoods where ’90s lo-fi meets singer-songwriter melancholy. It’s hushed, a little bleak, and ultimately uplifting – all of Iron & Wine’s charms encapsulated in four-and-a-half hazy minutes.

8/10