Do you like commercials and shockingly off-key a capella music? If not, skip the first FULL FOUR MINUTES to get to the much more interesting podcast ahead!

I’m a massive fan of Sam and I love In The Reins so I was excited to get a look inside this most recent collaboration. My issue is simply that the narration is unbearably pretentious and self indulgent, and i feel that it takes the focus away from artists that should be the primary subject of the podcast. I’m open to listening to more podcasts in this format, but I think this style of delivery won’t be for everyone.

I’m a huge fan of Iron & Wine and Calexico and love hearing about their re-assembly for the Years to Burn album. That being said, I almost couldn’t listen to this first episode as the background music seemed to be mixed at the same volume level as the interviewer and interviewees. I found it very distracting as well as hard to hear that anyone was saying. I really hope this can be fixed for future episodes.

No matter if you are into music, this specific collab, visual art, or the art of business and people’s interactions… this is a wide ranging peek at some really creative folks doing their thing— all well told, by the personable host. Interesting premise for a show, and I can’t wait to see where it goes!