A Review Of Calexico's Carried To Dust

Photo by Gerald von Foris

Newsvine Music Listen In

It's as if there were a slider that could adjust music much as a saturation control adjusts color. There would just be... more.

Calexico would pile it on with their latest release, Carried to Dust, taking all the elements with which core artists Joey Burns and John Convertino made their sound — the Latin rhythms, the horns, the poignant melodies — and just punching them up.

Before the noodly instrumental EP, Toolbox, the quiet stealth of Garden Ruin and the fruitful collaboration with Iron & Wine on In The Reins, Calexico garnered considerable indie accolades with their smooth take on western music and border town imaginations via the magnificent Feast Of Wire. Calexico's bold moves on that record set them up as almost indefinable, genre-mangling mavens of Nu-Americana song craftmanship

Now we have Carried To Dust which plays as a true companion to that 2003 opus. From the percussive kick-off of "Victor Jara's Hands" we get the familiar sense that Calexico is proudly behind the wheel. When the chorus and horns open up it's all smooth cruisin' down the hot, southwestern trails of Burns and Convertino's musical and lyrical wanderings.

Calexico's mission would appear to be melding old world conquistador evocations with modern indie folk. It succeeds beautifully on Carried To Dust with instrumentation that sounds at once antique while very nouveau. "Two Silver Trees" shimmers and slinks like a moonlight mission over a sassy bass line. "Writer's Minor Holiday" has a refreshing pop sensibility that weaves in and around layers of loopy background cooing. "Falling From Sleeves" is a brief, beautiful waltz carried along with plinking guitar and longing strings.

The tried yet more hook-laden sound of Carried To Dust is becoming of the band. The songs are quite varied this time out and there appears to be a passion and cohesion that translates wonderfully on record. Calexico is comfortable and assured in telling these nomadic tales of discomfort and anxiety.

The horns sound especially alive in the sense that these parts move in, around and all over the gamut from mariachi riff to sweet melodic Bacharach-style accompaniment. Naturally, percussion plays a big part and the rhythms run exotic to minimalist as Convertino's style wonderfully suits itself to the acoustic and nuanced playing.

It's a great collection and a must-have for Calexico fans. It's nice to see Victor Gastelum return for the cover art and bold website graphics. This is the band's sixth official release and it appears the side projects, the touring, the collaborations have all been leading to this point. Carried To Dust is the alloy you'd get if everything Calexico ever made were melted in a great, hot musical crucible.

© Stephen Mockensturm 2008 for Listen In. Some Rights Reserved.

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