Calexico - Garden Ruin (City Slang)
4/5
By: Thomas Hannan
To many in the alt-country mindset, Calexico are some kind of Holy Grail, different records hailed as either the epitome of that style of song craft, or the genre's answer to 'OK Computer' (amongst other reactions). Delightfully, Calexico like trying things out, dipping their toes in to ponds usually cordoned off as the preserve of people more solely interested in dub or freaky jazz and seeing what happens. The results are usually marvellous, if a little difficult to really figure out, given that they manage to make their songs still sound so uncomplicatedly, instantly loveable.
Where exactly then is that pioneering spirit they're hailed for? It's as if it's subsumed in to the Calexico way of doing things rather than made in to a focal point - a really rather clever tactic when you think about it. But however they do it and with whatever tools, there's no doubting that a sumptuous melody is always there to be found in a Calexico song. And in 'Garden Ruin', it absolutely takes centre stage.
If they had any strong ones, you'd imagine their roots would sound like this, and that the LP in question is something of an attempt to get back to them - either that or to start searching within themselves for inspiration rather than in the sound of everything around them. What do they discover? Simple melody, incredibly strong and difficult to imitate with anything like the same degree of success, but in virtue of this very simplicity, a record very easy to admire without a huge degree of effort required on the listener's part.
Here, the alt-country tag seems more appropriate than it ever did before, that is, if you're sure of what it means in the first place - I don't pretend to, and I don't claim to know anyone who really does, but if my approximation is correct, then in 'Garden Ruin' we've near as damn it found something that, for future discussions, could act as our definition. In the likes of the marvellous 'Bisbee Blue' it shuffles along as if chewing straw along its way, but something about the way it's phrased, something about the way the vocal melody jumps around atop the soft strums of the acoustic guitar... well, speed it up a few notches and you might as well be listening to The Kooks.
To a very controlled extent, it also manages to rock out - 'Letter To Bowie Knife' and 'Deep Down' upping the tempo to add a little welcome bite to the comforting, puppy like licking of the rest of the record. A soother - that's what it is at best, the opening duo of 'Cruel' and a sumptuous 'Yours & Mine' being the two most noteworthy examples of that marvellously relaxing 'Garden Ruin' sound. But if that were all it did, you'd struggle to find why anyone got excited about Calexico. It's because they do that so well whilst occasionally gritting that path or spooking us out proper with the likes of the so subtle it's barley there 'Smash' or the cacophonous finish to the epic 'All Systems Red' that so many stay so interested. That, and that with every thing they do, the tunes are nothing short of gorgeous. 'Garden Ruin' might not be as freeform as some other efforts, but in that most important, melodious respect, it hits the nail ever so sweetly on its head.
Artists in this article: Calexico
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