Rarities compilations can make for some uneasy listening, but with the glut of excellent home recordings Sam Beam had before the release of the first Iron and Wine album, and his consistently great output over the years, the two-disc Around the Well collection could be something special. A lot of these songs have been floating around for years, but there are a few unreleased gems in the collection, including "Homeward These Shoes." This track, written for the film In Good Company, is awfully slight compared to the epic "The Trapeze Swinger" (no wonder the latter made the film, while the former was left out). But this is another beautiful, if brief, bit of lilting folk from Beam, and marks a middle ground in his career between the bedroom folk of The Creek Drank the Cradle and the Graceland-like romp of The Shepherd's Dog. If the rest of the leftover material on Around the Well

is this good, and it probably is, this should be a nice hold over until we get a proper new full length from Mr. Beam.

Around the Well is out May 19 on Sub Pop. [Stereogum]