Album Review: Calexico -- Edge Of The Sun

Even as they’ve straddled the musical border of their name, there’s always been that bit more to Calexico than the mariachi trumpets and desert songs of longing.

On some albums, maybe they’ve not quite got the full balance of what they’re about. But here, Burns and Convertino seem to have pulled the various strands together, and made an album that manages to flow across the moods, but might also work as a sampler for those who somehow haven’t caught up with one of this century’s more individual bands.

Edge Of The Sun goes from the breezy alt-country of Falling From The Sky – which could easily fit on one of guest vocalist Ben Bridwell’s Band Of Horses records – to the heat haze of Miles From The Sea’s ocean dreams that drag you in and under.

It can then switch down to something like the instrumental Cayoacan, with plucked flamenco guitars and those trumpets setting it as wedding waltz if they ever make a Tijuana Cartel remake of The Godfather. Some beds of almost-European electronica add another different texture.  

Elsewhere there are the familiar Latino airs of songs like Cumbia de Donde and Beneath The City Of Dreams, or the more plaintive Tapping On The Line. Cameos from the likes of Neko Case and Sam Beam (Iron & Wine) will also likely broaden the appeal.

An occasional squelchy synth line may distract, but as ever Calexico have made another crafted album to add to their catalogue of quality.