Evoking images of dust-filled landscapes and rolling tumbleweeds, Calexico utilize the atmosphere of the Southwest to its fullest in their latest release, Carried to Dust. Tucson residents, Joey Burns and John Convertino lead this group of eclectic musicians to new heights on their sixth full-length studio release.
Carried to Dust reflects Calexico's desire to shed preconceived notions of their music, often painted with ambient electronica, blues and mariachi. This latest reinvention incorporates organic instruments - think acoustic guitar, glockenspiel, trumpets, Chinese guzheng - with electric guitars, synthesizers and fuzzy bass to shed a new light on folk-rock.
Opening with the intimate Victor Jara's Hands"" - a nod to the Chilean political musician - Burns' whispered, raspy vocals sway in and out of the music like whispered free-form poetry while Convertino places asymmetrical rim shots strategically throughout. The result is an ethereal piece with rockabilly undertones that sounds as though it's playing outside a Mexican cantina.
The Asian-inspired ""Two Silver Trees"" is washed in Spanish-flavored jazz as it tells a tale of deception in a poisoned world. A thick layering of accordion, banjo, marimba, electric guitar, Chinese guzheng and glockenspiel invokes rich textures with a sense of urgency.
Burns' vocals soar in ""The News About William,"" a story of a man who takes his own life. The track is laden with sorrow as Spanish and country-western guitar melodies dance over waltzing violins and mournful French horns. Convertino fills in with a peppering of fan brushes to add a characteristic jazz body.
Burns breathes fragile life into atypical lyrics, carrying listeners through seasons of life and a snowy Russian winter. Although they are occasionally oversaturated, Burns spins weary narratives into magical laments of long-lost lovers and ecstatic celebration of freedom from life and institution. What his voice sometimes lacks in charismatic highs and lows the music makes up for with pulsing melody.
While country-western beats are often the backbone within the songs, they are especially prominent in ""Sarabande in Pencil Form"" and ""Slowness."" However, songs like ""Victor Jara's Hands"" and ""Inspiración"" pay homage to Latin melodies with trumpet flourishes, pulsing shakers and salsa flair.
Iowa-based singer Pieta Brown lends her sultry voice to ""Inspiración"" as she and Burns trade off on the melody, only to come together in passionate harmony for the chorus.
Burns and Convertino have chosen well-placed instrumental tracks for this album - especially ""Sarabande in Pencil Form,"" ""El Gatillo (Trigger Revisited)"" and ""Falling From Sleeves"" - to thicken the story of a man ambling through the desert. In the tradition of collaboration, Iron and Wine's Sam Beam and Tortoise's Douglas McCombs assist Calexico on several tracks.
In Calexico's latest quest for reinvention, Carried to Dust proves to be a well-rounded, evocative album laden with Calexico's incomparable talents.
