Iron and Wine makes its Nonesuch Records debut with today's North American release of Ghost on Ghost. The AP calls it "a wonderfully produced and assembled record, propelled with joyous momentum even on tracks with darker lyrics." The NY Daily News gives it four stars, citing its "gorgeous and glowing melodies," as does American Songwriter, which says the songs "sound absolutely sublime." In the UK, where the album is out on 4AD, Uncut also calls it "sublime ... a work of immense beauty and scale." Ghost on Ghost earns five stars from the Mail on Sunday, Independent on Sunday, and Daily Telegraph and four stars from Mojo, Independent, Observer, Guardian, and Metro, which calls it "a brilliantly written collection and an album of the year." 

Iron and Wine makes its Nonesuch Records debut with the release of its new album, Ghost on Ghost, tomorrow. In advance of the release comes the video for the album track "Joy." The video, made by projecting hand-painted water color animations into stop-motion landscapes by director Hayley Morris, premiered on NPR Music on Friday. Morris has "created a sense of fragile and otherworldly beauty," says Stereogum. Watch the video here.

Iron and Wine makes its Nonesuch Records debut with the release of Ghost on Ghost next week. But you don't need to wait till then to hear it. The album is streaming in full all this week as an NPR First Listen. "Beam now presides over arrangements springy and three-dimensional enough to accommodate a horn section—and yet he still finds a way to wrap his agreeably soft voice around thematically weighty material," writes NPR's Stephen Thompson. "Beam still lets his songs and sound morph and evolve; more than ever, he's a songwriter versatile enough to pack huge ideas into simple arrangements and vice versa."

Iron and Wine, whose Nonesuch Records debut album, Ghost on Ghost, is due out on April 16, hit SXSW last week, performing at several showcases throughout Austin. One such set was at the SXSW Radio Day Stage, where Sam Beam and band performed songs from the new album and more. You can now listen to the entire set, including "Grace for Saints and Ramblers" and "Winter Prayers" from Ghost on Ghost, streaming here via WFUV.

The 27th South by Southwest (SXSW) Music and Media Conference gets under way in Austin, Texas, as thousands of bands and music lovers from all over the world descend on the live-music capital for several days of non-stop music making. Nonesuch artists will be well represented among them, with several performances throughout the week from Devendra Banhart, Nataly Dawn, Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell, Lianne La Havas, and Iron and Wine.

Record Store Day, the annual celebration of the unique culture surrounding over 1,000 independently owned record stores in the US and hundreds internationally, is set to take place on Saturday, April 20, and included among the special limited-edition releases on that day are vinyl recordings from The Black Keys, Bombino, Iron and Wine, and Punch Brothers.

Iron and Wine's Nonesuch Records debut album, Ghost on Ghost, is due out in the United States on April 16, 2013, and is now available to pre-order on CD and vinyl at ironandwine.com and in the Nonesuch Store. Pre-orders include a limited-edition print of a handwritten lyric sheet for the song "Grace for Saints and Ramblers" (a select number of which will be autographed), an instant download of the same song, and a download of the complete album starting April 16. Listen to "Grace for Saints and Ramblers" here.

Iron and Wine, the pen name of singer-songwriter Sam Beam, has announced a series of US tour dates this spring, performing at the BottleRock Festival in Napa, California, on May 11, followed by a run along the East Coast in support of the new album Ghost on Ghost, due out April 16 in the US on Nonesuch Records. Tickets are on sale this week. 

Iron and Wine makes its Nonesuch Records debut with Ghost on Ghost in the US on April 16, 2013 (April 15 on 4AD in Europe, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand). Ghost on Ghost is the fifth release from singer-songwriter Sam Beam, using the pen name Iron and Wine. The album was produced by Beam’s longtime associate Brian Deck and follows 2011’s Kiss Each Other Clean, which debuted at #2 on the Billboard chart to critical acclaim. Iron and Wine will support the new release with tour dates throughout 2013, to be announced soon. A special pre-order at ironandwine.com also will be announced soon.