Kiss Each Other Clean is Iron and Wine's first studio effort in over three years. The album shows Sam Beam continuing to mine folk, rock, country, African and Jamaican musical traditions for inspiration, whilst switching the focus of his studio lens to 60s and 70s pop influences. The results are astounding, serving to underline his ascent to one of today's greatest story tellers, able to craft meticulous tales full of forlorn love, religious imagery and wistful dreams. On the last Iron and Wine studio album The Shepherd's Dog, Sam strayed from the sparse, intimate solo affairs of his early recordings, introducing layered textures and poly-rhythmic sounds that allowed his lyrics to spring to life. With some relief, his fans and the critics loved it.

It's only natural then that he would take this sonic collage and built upon it on Kiss Each Other Clean. Kiss Each Other Clean was recorded over the course of 2010 in Chicago with longtime producer Brian Deck at the helm. A number of familiar names pop up to contribute musically. Not one to rest on laurels, Kiss Each Other Clean takes off where The Shepherd's Dog left us with layer upon layer, rhythm upon rhythm and of course some acoustic guitar and whispering vocals for good measure. Sam himself said that the resulting ten tracks make for a "more focused pop record," albeit with "straight-up jazz, blues and African elements" experimentally thrown in.