In The Reins [EP]

Whether or not Iron & Wine and Calexico ever choose to follow this up with another collaboration (fingers crossed), it's clear that both acts are stronger for having worked with the other.

Heartbreaking and haunting. [23 Sep 2005, p.90]

Fans of both bands will want to get In the Reins because it rates favorably with their best work.

While In The Reins bears the unmistakable imprint of both Calexico and Iron and Wine, these collaborators donâ??t seem to be interested in playing it all that safe.

In the Reins is a marked leap forward in production--proving that [Beam's] songs, while gorgeous and perfectly functional as bare-bones four-track recordings, can support heavier instrumentation without losing their power and efficiency.

The combination... works just fine. [Oct 2005, p.114]

If it was a foregone conclusion that the long-awaited Iron & Wine/Calexico team-up wouldn't result in anything revelatory (or incendiary, as it were), it was almost as inevitable that it would be rewarding all the same; safe, not sorry, sad and elegant as ever.

With Calexico's sensitive muting of colour, Beam is clearly thriving throughout. [Nov 2005, p.112]

This excellent collaboration plays to both halves' strengths. [Nov 2005, p.137]

In the Reins is a clear success.

In The Reins is intelligent but natural, different but not queer.

A little swing moves these songs along in otherwise unobscured directions. [Nov 2005, p.101]

In the Reins will please fans of both Beam and Calexico, and perhaps bring crossover business to each.

The best parts of Iron & Wine songs are almost always the bridges between chorus and verse or the outros, the spaces void of singing where Beam adds subtle riffs on top of the normal progression... They are the sharpest hooks, and, unfortunately, Calexico pretty much cuts out the effect of these bridges on In the Reins, replacing them with dull saxophones, harmonicas, trumpets, and ill-defined electric guitar parts.

A solid set of tunes with some interesting musical elements not typically present in Beam's dynamic.

Sounds like an indie update of Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska moved 300 miles to the southwest. [6 Oct 2005, p.154]