Love is arguably the ubiquitous topic of choice in music. You could say love makes the world go ‘round, sure, but it also makes the music industry money because it is universally relatable. Win-win.

As much as listeners want to believe in every pop song they hear, they must contend with the notion that love doesn’t actually progress like a Britney Spears song. But I think you know that already. [Note: does Britney make me too far removed—generationally, I mean? Let’s replace Ms. Spears with Justin Bieber. Baby, baby, baby etc. is far more culturally relevant, considering.]

Enter Sam Beam, the brains behind the neo-folk stage name Iron and Wine. Beam has produced four studio albums and eight EPs since 2002, with Iron and Wine’s latest album, “Kiss Each Other Clean,” garnering much praise throughout the U.S. and claiming the number two spot on the Billboard charts shortly following its release in late January of this year.

Some might posit that Beam’s careful use of steel guitars and reverb makes for the intimate atmosphere of Iron and Wine. Maybe his North Carolina upbringing and fantastic mountain-man beard is what creates more of an emotional response in listeners. I’ll go out on a limb here and call Beam out for his lyrics.

“Resurrection Fern,” off 2007’s “The Shepherd’s Dog,” creates an image of uncharacteristic unrest and struggle to maintain tradition. The narrator describes a scene of people living like ghosts and speaking words that travel far away from where they came from. Fallen houses and cornfields portray what many consider a post-Civil War south, while “bravery wasted” and “shame” expose defeat and sadness. But Beam writes of two people laying beside ashes of an unknown fire whose love makes them pearls, both equal in rarity, fragility and purity, instead of an “oak tree and its resurrection fern:” a dominant man and a submissive, dependent woman.

Google “resurrection fern.” It will all make sense once you do that.

“The Sea and the Rhythm,” off Iron and Wine’s EP of the same name, describes a love that transcends the standard progression of attraction. Beam’s metaphor of the sea as love’s incarnation between two people forms boundless profundity while a gentle guitar and voice lull methodically. It’s poetry, really, of a man who has love.

And no wonder Beam knows love. As Paste magazine reports, he is married and the father of five daughters.  Although Beam is not exactly rough, his gruffy image is in stark contrast to the traditional images of    a loving man. And that makes it even better.

Beam is currently touring the UK to promote “Kiss Each Other Clean” but will be stateside mid-April. Tickets are available at.com/tour.

Image courtesy of onethirtybpm.com