Feast Of Wire

Their deeply rooted widescreen desert diorama has given Calexico a distinctive sound and a wide-ranging audience. Theirs is music to savour and enjoy, on several levels. It’s distillation of California free thinking and Mexican sensibilities filtered through the arid desert climate of Tucson, Arizona has produced a bedrock on which their music is built. And its core members multi-instrumentalists Joey Burns and John Convertino continue to define and refine their aural soundtracks, making Feast Of Wire their most fully realised testament to date.

The sounds range from button accordion to sonic synthesiser to pedal steel guitar and a topping of Mariachi styled horns. Song-wise, the highlights include the fractured ‘Attack, El Robot! Attack!’, jazzy ‘Crumble’ and superbly-monikered ‘Not Even Stevie Nicks’.

The instrumental ‘Close Behind’ has its moments too, but really the star of the show is Joey Burns’ voice. He gives a focus and human vantage to these, sometimes, complex visions. What is surprising though is that, to the best of my knowledge, Calexico have yet to be tapped to produce a score for a major movie. Their time will come though. Theirs is a music ideally suited to a visual accompaniment as anyone who witnessed their Temple Bar Music Cente gig will attest. For the moment however just roll those pictures in your head.

That Calexico spent time playing here is important, that they keep making music this rewarding is essential. Feast Of Wire is the main course.