After two full lengths and an EP comprised largely of solo acoustic guitar and voice with the occasional harmony overdub, Sam Beam must have finally realized that he can get a little louder in the studio than he can in his attic.

About half of these songs are all out folk stomp; clanging percussion, fiddles and all. Yet even at the band’s loudest, Beam never raises his voice, a strange tranquility among the raucousness around him. While not nearly as far-reaching as Shepherd’s Dog, his next full length, Woman King is as perfect a transition you can find between the hushed nighttime music of his early career and the world-tinged folk-rock of his later records.