[rating=8.00]
For most people who love them, Calexico can do no wrong. And over their twenty years or so as a band, they’ve continued to evolve while simultaneously remaining consistent. Which is why it’s unbelievably impressive that they’re still able to bend and flex their sound until it’s new and different and fresh. Perhaps their most pop-heavy record yet, Calexico’s new one, titled Edge of the Sun, finds them collaborating with a slew of familiar voices (Neko Case, Gaby Moreno, Sam Beam of Iron & Wine, Ben Bridwell of Band of Horses, and Amparo Sanchez, to name a few), crafting dreamy hooks, and still feeling endlessly inspired by the Southwest.
Aside from a handful of more specific Mexi-Cali tunes, Edge of the Sun is mostly made up of addictive, unforgettable feel-good songs. The soaring opener “Falling from the Sky” is dramatic and layered, and it will course through you like a shot of adrenaline. You can practically feel the hot desert breeze blowing through your hair when you hear “Where do you fall/when you have no where to go?”
Similarly, “Tapping on the Line” is a standout on Sun. It’s romantic, smooth and complicated with a driving beat and the sweetest vocal harmonies. A simple premise – trouble communicating – is akin to that of a favorite song from Neko Case’s last record titled “Calling Cards”. Like that song, this one is atmospheric and rich. Like “Falling from the Sky”, “Tapping on the Line” has a seamless 1970s flow to it, like it’s just floating on the wind.
“Follow the River”, the final song on the record, is also one of the more beautiful compositions. The sliding steel guitar notes give it an inherently Southwestern tone, as do the howling “oooh”s, like a wolf singing into the full moon. Another song that is so fully of a specific place, “Following the River” is a perfect, haunting note upon which to end Sun, as it will stick with you. That driving, steady percussion shows up again, too, making this one yet another ideal road song. There are many of these on Edge of the Sun, and you should not get into your car again without it.
Edge of the Sun occasionally feels like two records rolled into one, with a stark contrast. All of the gorgeous alt-country, pop tunes fit so snugly together. So it’s alarming when there are sudden moments of sultry, Latin-inspired booty shaking. “Coyoacan Theme” and “Cumbia Donde” especially, but also the more lyrical “Chinchon Ciudad del Sueno” make for an interesting juxtaposition, but ultimately feel like they belong on a different album. Sun is best when it’s subtler in theme. Songs like “World Undone” and “Moon Never Rises” capture that desert spirit without taking it so literally.
Calexico is a band that still manages to be interesting so many albums into their career. Though they’re singing about much of the same things (or at least the same places), they continue to find fascinating stones to overturn. Edge of the Sun is no exception. It’s so big and full of feeling, folksy and scenic, it practically paints the sunset as it plays.
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