CALEXICO – garden ruin

(CD/LP, City Slang)

Things change. Torn between the notions that our favourite bands should always repeat their best record only do it somehow different so that it is better than before, but still remain the same so we can still like it as much as the one before, the pathways for bands to lavender through are small and sometimes poisoned. “garden ruin” could either be the ticket to fame or the loss of credibility for Calexico. After forfeiting the Tex Mex to the biggest extent (there is one exception on here) and the alt.country for the most parts, Joey Burns and John Convertino, once again with the help of a bunch of friends from all over the place, have recorded the first true indie-pop/rock album of their career. I hear young colleagues with no idea about Giant Sand talking about this new band they discovered, which is not a bad thing at all, I have to remind myself and refrain from starting to tell them about seeing Howe Gelb play in front of 120 people in a packed little bar. No, the main thing is to see if “garden ruin” is able to stand on its own and where its substance lies.

But that’s not as easy as it sounds. The move from more cinematic layouts to a more songwriter / band-approach has moved old idols like Gram Parsons (and his American Cosmic Music) and the Byrds to the foreground and culminates in wonderfully placed and harmonized refrains and chord changes. Just listen to “Bisbee Blue” or “Lucky Dime” to rest this case, songs so soft and nice they could be charged as easy listening – the latter one even with the prototypical “bam-baram-bam” choir in the back. Then there is a straight forward indie-rocker like “Letter to Bowie Knife” which could have been culled by anyone of the more talented emo-pop-heroes of late, from Maritime to the Weakerthans. Is that a hint at who this record is supposed to be aimed at? Did Covertino and Burns really actually aim or was it just something that came from itself? Hard to say and I don’t think you’ll ever get a real answer from them even if asking them directly after spending a few hours drinking together and becoming friends. Because, after all, things never are that easy. I think I already mentioned that. Then there are dark ballads, wallowing in the forever wonderful minor/major-chord changes, and even revelling in the TexMex-spirit for a little – “Roka” with its Mexican female vocals and trumpets, a hint at the past – but those will never reach the beauty and reverie of “Ballad of Cable Hogue”. Which no other song has done so far, which will always be a detriment, but see above. Finally there are songs like “Deep Down” which has parts that sound so much like Giant Sand and even Burns sounds as if he is imitating Howe Gelb’s singing style. Finally, an expanding rocker like the closer “All systems red” in its emotional crescendo does dangerously aim at directions somewhere between Aerogramme, Carpark North and Richard Ashcroft.

For anyone not thinking in the terms of evolution and development of a band over the course of a couple of records but only in terms of this album laying in front of him, this is an easy record and a nice treat. Beautiful songs, lots of variety, execution in the right balance of perfection and emotion and enough depth hinted at in the lyrics and sentiments to satisfy the more interested listener. For those of us referring to Calexico still as one of the premier examples of alternative country or a new definition of what country music can be, the task will be to either wait for the next few albums to check it out (possible only for those with a lot of patience), redefine our expectations (impossible for almost everyone) or to look for new forerunners (which, mind you, will make you a conservative). A trap you caught yourself in.