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Iron & Wine will be hitting the road this month and we’ve had the privilege of creating a poster for their spring tour. We will be putting these bad boys up for sale on June 13th after the last date on the tour. The print is a three color screen print, including a split fountain, and has a limited edition of 150. When the poster is available, it can be purchased here.

The idea for the poster came to us after researching some interviews with Iron & Wine's frontman Samuel Beam. He stated that his new album is a "focused pop album" that one would hear on the radio in the 70's. In other interviews he commented on the source of the band's name which he apparently got from a protein supplement he found in a gas station called "Beef, Iron & Wine." He liked the juxtaposition of the words "Iron & Wine" and felt it matched the style of his sad yet beautiful music. Below is the sketch and description we pitched to them.

THE SKETCH

THE PITCH

"The poster will depict a night landscape with a train traveling in the foreground and a night sky and half moon (song reference) in the background.  The entire composition will also appear as an overhead view of a record player, with the circular star-scape representing the record and the train representing the tone arm.  The overall tone of the poster will match Sam's description of his music as "surreal, beautiful, and sad."

Having the band name "Iron & Wine" straddling both sides of the half moon is intended as a reference to Sam's description of the band name and music as a juxtaposition of "sweet and sour, two-sides of the coin, and the literal juxtaposition of "iron" and "wine".  "The Head and The Heart" also fits will into this juxtaposition below Iron & Wine.  We're imagining that the tour dates will be included around the circumference of the stars/record. "Spring Tour 2011" could appear on the train itself to represent the idea of touring and travel."

Below are some close up pics of the finished poster.

CLOSE UP SHOTS