Calexico – The Thread That Keeps Us

The work is beatiful......but the very work in my opinion is the bonus disc [Very Calexico Style] !!!!!!

Drawing their name from a combination of California (Cal) and Mexico (exico), Calexico have delivered another in a series that for me, adds but two songs to my collection. That being said in no way indicates that the music has not been thoughtfully considered, or in line with Calexico’s musical history … it’s just that this is one more in a lone line of bands from whom I pick and choose the songs that move me the most, leaving the rest of the material for someone else.

I don’t believe that Calexico have ever delivered a top flight album, though they’re a band who inspire most listeners to keep their fingers crossed, hoping that this will be the perfect set of songs that ride the currents of numbers such as “Voices In The Field” and “End Of The Night” (which is a bonus track), two sonic and emotional tracks that ride easily in my back pocket. If you were to ask me what Calexico was all about, I’d certainly shove my hands deeply into said pockets, kick at a couple of stones with the toe of my boot, then sheepishly shrug my shoulders saying, “I’ve no idea really, I just know the music from them that I like, and as of today, my collection consists of fourteen songs.” Though thinking on that question, if really pinned down, I might suggest that Calexico are a mixture of an indie rock band married to a mariachi band, but that was in the early days, when there was a sense of punk, surf and folk that was layered with a heavy southwestern feel, where there was a mesh of cultures and tones … yet that sense of labeling has long since disappeared.

All of the music rags have been touting The Thread That Keeps Us as the album that will put Calexico in the same room as say Wilco or R.E.M., where this outing will deliver unto us fresh and precious barnstorming, along with an evocative atmosphere of intimacy, where the band are constantly engaging each other. But I don’t hear that, nor have I ever understood what people are hearing when they suggest that Calexico’s music has been meticulously crafted, and the fact that they’ve moved from familiar geographical territory (Arizona, New Mexico and southern California) to the coastline of the Pacific northwest, to record in a rundown studio may sound romantic, their efforts have channeled little that comes across as new, inventive and inviting.

This is no doubt Calexico’s most political album to date, yet even those songs do not resinate with the sense of urgency one might expect, there is no ratcheting up of tension, or direct pointing of fingers, it’s all rather mater of factly suggested at and inferred.

One reviewer (Andy Gill) went so far as to say, and I paraphrase, “The Thread That Keeps Us ingeniously blends Radiohead-esque descending minor chord unease with plangent Everly’s (Everly Brothers) style harmonies, that brilliantly evokes the contrasting moods which give the album its drive and energy, a dichotomy heralded by Joey Burns’ determination to seek love in the age of the extremes.” See, this is the sort of statement that fans, or those paid to write a solid favorable review write … it’s not honest, it’s not inclusive, it’s not informative, and it will lead you nowhere, unless you’re an ardent fan, and then you’re already on board.

Arguably, Calexico have never, in over twenty years, delivered their breakout album, nor do I think they every will. Their time has ed, their musical ideas do not follow a defined course, and their songs for the most part do not sound as if they’ve been considered and refined. Calexico are in need of someone who can steer their craft in one direction or another, and until that time, and probably after, I will slide their most comfortable tunes into my ever increasing collection of solid first rate material.

Review by Jenell Kesler