By Ross Dallas
Too often, contemporary albums are a jumbled mix of singles rather than a coherent piece. There is no sense of reprise, and 10 out of 12 songs will serve as calk to fill in the cracks around two songs intended for airplay. So, I was delighted when I heard that Calexico was releasing an album loosely inspired by the Hollywood writers’ strike, which tells the story of someone who leaves work, and sets out on a journey with a marked map. The new release, “Carried to Dust,” doesn’t follow this narrative rigidly, but the concept of traveling lays the groundwork for a richly diverse and complex album.
The band, which comprises only two core members: vocalist Joey Burns and drummer John Convertino, is named after the California town, Calexico, which abuts the Mexican border. Indeed, the town’s name comes from the bordering state and country (Cal~ from California, and ~exico from Mexico). It is rare that a band’s name so aptly describes its music. Calexico writes songs in both Spanish and English, sometimes switching languages in the same song, such as on the new album’s opener, “Victor Jara’s Hands.” This approach augments the sense of wandering expressed in the lyrics: “All alone and lost/ My path is lit by flame/ Crossing lands never seen/ Crossing rivers of my destiny.”
Just as Calexico takes liberty with switching between English and Spanish on the album, the band liberally deploys influences from a wide musical array. The album’s second track, “Two Silver Trees,” immediately introduces a stylistic change from a flamenco-ridden feel to a more atmospheric sound. When listening to the song, you can almost hear a living, breathing body. You can feel the heartbeat of the bass pulsating and building. The chorus—dazed, elegant and celestial—invokes Iron and Wine singer-songwriter Sam Beam, who is featured later in the album. A reverb-heavy guitar, a catchy piano riff and a textural melodica create an alluring blend of ambient and clear-cut sound. It is a perfect bed for Joey Burns’ whispery voice. Here, Calexico creates the sound of a ghost, a ghost that floats in and out of the album. The apparition emerges again in tracks like “Man Made Lake,” in which an actual ghost metaphor is used in the first verse: “I’m gonna walk these streets/ Of cold concrete/ Like I’m a ghost/ Searching for its grave.” The song evokes a nightmarish and twisted future with no organic or human qualities, poetically expressed in the lyrics: “Then I’ll gather the leaves from cell phone trees.” That line may be a token of Calexico as a traveling band, because you really can find signal towers disguised as conifers splayed on U.S. highways. Perhaps Burns got the lyrics through touring.
Themes of disarray, longing, and the album’s overarching theme of drifting to uncharted territories are again found in “House of Valparaiso.” The song extracts the blissful, romantic uncertainty of the sea—that wonder and awe we often feel when at the beach, gazing across an endless ocean plain. It’s what Herman Melville must have felt when musing on Nantucket Island. The concept of seeking communication and a sign of life, uttered at the end of “Man Made Lake,” is revisited in “House of Valparaiso,” which alludes to a lost love. Often, those who yearn for a distant lover will turn their heads each time a door opens, thinking that person has returned. Ordinary people walking on the street who may have similar hair, clothing or posture will, for a second, morph into the likeness of the absent lover. For the character in “House of Valparaiso,” the ocean takes on the likeness of a lost flame: “Is that your shape in the foam of the sea/ After all these years coming home to me.”
Two instrumentals on “Carried to Dust” offer soothing breaks, giving space and relief to an album whose lyrical themes can be heavy. “Falling from Sleeves” struck me. It combines a simple Venezuelan cuatro pattern, jazzy yet sparing drum brushes, and a stirring cello arrangement. It is simultaneously ambient and organized. The simplicity of each instrument’s part, strategically placed in the song, adds up.
Good job on “Carried To Dust,” Calexico.
www.myspace.com/casadecalexico
This review was originally published on WERS.org, September 9, 2008.