Calexico - 'World Drifts In: Live At The Barbican London' (City Slang)
4/5
By: Toby L
Watching Calexico. Live.
Unforgivably, it's a concept that's foreign to so many. A cult act defined by their whirlwind unleashing of Ameri/Mexi-cana-flavoured, alt US melting-pot of any/all soundscapes under the sun, the multi-ensemble aren't one defined by their dives into drumkits or innumerable jeers at their loyal audience. Because that doesn't happen. For Calexico aren't an act to merely churn out the clichι and adopt persona; they're beyond such illusions.
This is music. 'World Drifts In' documents the most quietly influential and revered of acts on the London stage, guesting with Francoiz Breut and Mariachi de Luna and a whole dustbin-liner's worth of add-on musos from across the sphere. It's a big sound, but never overpowering - like dipping into a stoned, Havana summer.
Throughout their ninety minutes onstage, not once does it prove tiresome (possibly due to the tone of the seated performance at London's spellbinding Barbican), and material arrives in either abrupt, mood-emoting swaths ('Not Even Stevie Nicks'; 'Close Behind'), or full-blown epics - just behold the ten and a half minute crescendo set-finale in 'Crystal Frontier'. You'll physically have to hold yourself back from a standing-ovation.
And as if that weren't enough to enthral, we get bonus material (God bless the DVD). Comprising: 'Border Horse' and 'The Soul Of Mariachi', documenting the making of the band's last LP, 'Feast Of Wire', and the more engaging on-the-road work of James Murray - 'Shot And Mounted'. There are even thoughtful conversations with the mildly restrained conjurors of it all, and a quite surreal cartoon. And four promo-flicks. Get a day-off to behold this one.
As flourishing and thick as their sound itself, 'World Drifts In' embraces depth, diversity of content and the vivid invention of the performers themselves to provide a not-so-concise delving into one of the world's most intriguing, overlooked acts. If you weren't a devout follower before, best prepare for an instant conversion.
Artists in this article: Calexico
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