Iron and Wine OUR ENDLESS NUMBERED DAYS (Sub Pop)

Sam Beam, the bearded songsmith who is Miami’s Iron and Wine, is first and foremost a family man and film teacher. Married with two daughters and a professor of cinematography and screenwriting at Miami International University of Art and Design, he stumbled into a deal with Sub Pop a couple of years ago. On the new Our Endless Numbered Days, he eschews the homemade four-track-and-acoustic-guitar folk of his first two albums for a more regimented recording session in Chicago with Brian Deck, whose pristine production provides a welcome clarity. Beam’s delicate, whispery voice is miked so closely that he seems to be sitting in your living room; you can hear his tongue hit the roof of his mouth.

Beam also enlisted his touring band, and sister Sarah’s vocal harmonies and Patrick McKinney’s slide guitar and banjo leads are subtle complements to the otherwise spare arrangements. There are two distinct styles of songs on the album: the even-numbered tracks are mostly short, simple folky numbers with finger-picking reminiscent of Nick Drake, whom Beam readily cites as an influence; the odd-numbered ones have a dirtier bluesy feel that seems to come straight from the swamps of southern Florida. It can feel repetitive at times, but if Beam exhibits the same gentleness in child rearing and attention to tone and mood in filmmaking as he does here, Iron and Wine will suffice as a successful hobby.

(Iron and Wine perform this Sunday, June 27, downstairs at the Middle East, 480 Massachusetts Avenue in Central Square; call 617-864-EAST.)