Reduci da molteplici, non sempre completamente a fuoco, artistique cooperatzioni con folta pletora di sound-riders appartenenti alla medesima verticistica indie/contemporaneità, il corposo sestetto-Calexico, supportato sempiternamente dalla dinamica City Slang, reclama a sommessa voce, l’attenzione dei propri verosimilmente crescenti aficionados, ammaliati dai five intriganti precedenti lavori et grazie alla stimata sound-proposta in essi contenuta, con undici nuove appassionanti, spesso leggiadre, se non sempre meravigliosamente coinvolgenti tracc(i)e, costituenti lo scorrevole et giammai banale camminamento tra rovine poste in essere nell’intrigante et contemporaneo sound-garden.
Per taluni versi et a superfitziale ausculto, il floreale e maggiormente quanto volutamente pop tragitto intrapreso, parrebbe evidenziare una crescita direzionale di segno audio-“normalizzatrice” nella fin quì rodata et collaudata sostanza Calexicana, spesso arricchita, in passato, da suono-mescolatorie oltreché “di confine” esperienze. Trattasi vice/versa di lavoro dotato di una personalità ampiamente definita, solidamente intriso da timbriche e tonalità sobrie, affabili, spesso meravigliosamente quanto tremebondamente chiaroscurali, grazie altresì ai ricercati quanto piacevoli intrecci vocali posti in essere et in appropriata evidenza nel corso di parecchi brandelli presenti in quodesto nuovo contesto.
La affiatata coppia Burns/Convertino, anche in questa occasione, qual che sia la audio-materia posta in essere, persevera nel dimostrare una riconoscibile ed elevata songwriting-qualità, frequentemente prossima (nel suo mica tanto ristretto ambito) alla semi-perfezione: ad onor del vero qualche sparuto passaggio (leggasi "Luckey Dime", assai deboluccia) non affascina integralmente, mais trattasi esclusively di sporadici quanto non decisivi frammenti la cui presenza non vanifica affatto il considerevole lavoro posto compiutamente in essere. Una significativa intensità emotiva si pone in compiuta evidenzia nello scorrere delle fresche et inedite brevi canciònes (appena quaranta sono i primi che ne compongono la totalità), prospettando un quadro acustico spesso pennellato ad ampie quanto tenui tinte, privo di inappropriate quanto duro-spigolose suono-emissioni: un’intelaiatura “ordinata” (non banale, sia claro), ove i suono-tasselli appaiono reale/mente nella naturale e appropriata disquo-collocatzionem: si prenda a titolo di example la sommessa quanto emozionante “Brisbee Bee” e le sue eleganti commistioni di violini e fiati, uniti alle note vocalità confidenzial/Burnsiane, con a làtere le chitarre acustico/grattugiate a far da impreziosente contorno.
Arrangiamenti et timbriche vengono certosinamente und sapientemente soppesati e misurati, quasi si tema, in qualche misura, di ledere gli altrui integerrimi padiglioni auricolari: “Roka” attrae sottilmente in virtù dei gentili ricami canori tra Mister Burns e Catalunyca (in temporaneo "prestito") oltreqùé gentile Senhorita Amparo Sanchez, su perfetto substrato acustico generato dal coinvolgente melange fra frizzanti chitarre e trascinanti ritmi e fiati mexicaneggianti; vanno altresì poste in adeguato risalto, in tutt'altra suono-direction, le più qùé riuscite sferzanti elettrificazioni chitarristiche contenute nella avvincente e assai vitale “Letter to Bowie Knife” o nel moderatamente graffiante atto conclusivo “All Systems Red”.
In conchiusura, pare configurarsi, seppur struttural/differentemente dal passato, la ennesima riuscita quanto compiuta Calexico-conferma: un'opera sentita, spesso profonda, non particolarmente generosa ma decisamente intrigante, come peraltro si positivamente auspicava da parte dei "nostri" Tucson-strimpellatori di (s)fiducia.
Elenco tracce testi e video
01 Cruel (04:00)
Cruel, cruel grounds
Leak truths never found
Torturous ways
Whisper from the grave
A slow spun song of distortion
Bitter, bitter mouth
Spitin' out seeds of doubt
Rituals seek root
Razed before they're told
Stories break like branches in the cold
Seasons trial finds man's mistakes fair game
Careless hand
Lay and law of the land
Falls by the side
Silenced sentient cries
All within the lines of divine right
Better bury the tracks in an unclosed case
Weeds of discontent choke a broken ghost landscape
Cruel, heartless reign
Chasing short term gains
Right down to the warning signs
Birds refuse to fly
No longer trust the sky
Drifting out beyond the signals
Even the horizon is gone
Weather flees underground
Future's left to wallow in fortune's waste
02 Yours and Mine (02:30)
Getting late for decision
What's that waiting about
Horses are chomping at the bit
The gate is nearly busted down
Moment before the calm of the storm
And everyone's blood goes wild
Except yours and mine
How many years has it taken
Your restless heart growing old
Horses running off on their own
And the stable's burnt to the ground
The longer you wait
Your decision will fade
And wind up wasting this time
Yours and mine
03 Bisbee Blue (02:48)
When you can't find the hours
Days keep on slipping thru
Avenues under construction
Blocking out your sky blues
Burried beneath the letters
Bills and the junk in the mail
Finding the strain to your heart
From the troubles down the trail
No sign of your old haunts here
Gone with the copper crews
Veins mined in vein remind you
Choices we choose to lose
New cities keep on sprawling
Old towns falling too
Raining a river of color
And it's flowing bisbee blue
Straight to you bisbee blue
Some say this way's the only one that's true
Bring me back bisbee blue
Bring me back
Oh these days, seem dark
Darkest i've seen
Darling you send me thru the hours
Days keep on sifting thru
Chipping away to remember
Days with you bisbee blue
Shining like bisbee blue
Bring me back bisbee blue
04 Panic Open String (04:10)
Panic open string, power grids blackout
Birds all fly in numbers down to the ground
Reassure the blades of green, green grass
Season's still asleep more or less
Wind is gearing up for a reckless ride
Leaning accidental on nature's side
Propeller power fields, solar panel sides
Lightning bolts connect, it's with you i will go
I close my eyes and the seasons pass
Above the cityscape, the city out of reach
Way beyond our lives, up into the sky, far below the green
My dreams are all blue, so is my heart
Light up screens of you, if you could only see
Time's dreams escape, late into the night
When the stars align reminds me of you
Words will lose their fear
And i will find their truth
Church bells in the hills they will ring and ring
Ocean's to the coast will cling to their host
The sun will split in two , sink thru an empty sky
It's where we'll go when we
Leave this place and die
05 Letter to Bowie Knife (03:06)
Everyday on my way home
The clouds would break and the angels
Would sing their refrain
This world's an ungodly place
Strangled by vines unchaste
So with my shining blade of steel
I would cut a path wide
Dipped in the ink of the fight
Written clean through the night
Mark my words upon the front page
To set my world straight
It's too late, it's too late
It's too late, it's too late
Just like i found it, my world is split
Right down the spine
Years bled dry now ripe for a reckoning
My blade's back slash beckoning
Slice my wounds and i make the sign one more time
Come on. Come on. Come home. Come home
Yeah it's too late, it's too late
It's too late, to refrain...refrain...refrain...
Did those angels ever sing?
Sliced my world in two
06 Roka (03:43)
sleeping in the valley, valley of ill fortune
waking cross the river, river of delusion
full moon lures the waves, waves of desperation
empty hearts and mouths wither away
so close your eyes
slow your breath
dream of northern lights
around this dance of death
no abandones, no llores, busca tu rio
no te sientas perdido
gira, vuelta y vuelta gira
danza de la muerte
que viene a verte
bailala
cup your hands to her parched heart, parched and
broken heart
no water here to drink way downstream
one goes where the water flows and water's running dry
so don't give up no don't cry, don't cry
just close our eyes
pretend we forget
north country dreams
twist this dance of death
danza de la muerte
si viene a verte
que bailando te encuentre
bailando, girando
danza de la muerte
spin round, spin round, spin round
vuelta, vuelta, muerte
bailala
07 Lucky Dime (02:33)
Found a dime in the metro line
Funny to see a familiar face
Since you left us long ago
There's never been a trace of luck to guide me
Hoping to see a sign
Or a lucky dime
Searching as i go
Hoping to see a sign
Or a lucky'
Someone told you long ago
All you ever needed to know
No matter how far you drift alone
I'll always be here around'
Hoping to see a sign
Or a lucky dime
08 Smash (03:46)
Is there anyway i can fix it
Take out my tools maybe smash with it
Let me destroy the parts that annoy
Swallow the words i'm saving
Fumble the chords i'm playing
Better just break it apart
Then where should they go
But you know i'm just following suit
It's something i aim not to do
Can't mock up a model me and you
Is someone out there
I can trust
With the words that never seem to fit
No sense looking backwards
Shattered every mirror in my eye
Scattering the scrapbook
Blueprints on the floor
Always thought things would snap into place
With a little more ease and grace
Still a ship sealed in a bottle
Never reaches the sea
And i stash all of the reasons
Dash them against the wall
And i smash your heart into tiny little pieces
And every time this happens
It gets harder and harder to build back again
09 Deep Down (04:31)
When numbers matter more than the heart
Your eyes are hollow and stiffness starts to take control
Capsize the soul, deep down you know it's evil
You've always known
Be a good example show your new tricks
And while you're out there they'll make the pitch
To rally the troops and make a huge contribution
To help push this through
Deep down you know it's evil
You've always known it's evil
The days here are numbered but your record is clean
Outstretched and waiting on banks that seem
To flow and flow, a rich reward to show
Duty carried out in the field
Deep down you know it's evil
You've always known it's evil
You've always known
10 Nom de Plume (03:19)
Le corbeau s'approche
Atterit sur l'épaule de celui qui écrit
Reviens lui picorer le cou
Les veines sortent des chairs
Le sang se répand sur la page
Il crie ses dernières lignes
Et s'endort
Novembre et son manteau d'hiver
Revers sombres
Chemise blanche comme la neige
Manchettes noires
Plane sur la ville
S'agrippe aux murs, détruit les rues
Les lances de cornes acérées
Plongent dans les yeux et les coeurs des courtiers
Les enfants s'enfuient dans les rues des quartiers
Les voitures quittent la route, avalées par la mer
Les périls de l'hiver
Les photographes, les barillets ouverts
La poudre à canon et les éclairs aveuglants
Étouffés par les fumées
Les cendres des usines
Livres de comptes déchirés
Semés comme des miettes pour les sortir
Des tunnels, loin des murs de la vieille ville
Avant d'être enfouis sous l'ordure nouvelle.
Le corbeau se fatigue
Les corbeaux se multiplient
Le ciel noircit à chaque nouveau cadavre
Les champs s'enflamment
L'hystérie les chasse des villes vers les cavernes
Et les collines assombries
Vers les hauts plateaux
Vers les hauts plateaux
Vers les hauts refuges
Vers les hauts refuges
Vers les hautes plaines
Vers les hautes plaines
Vers les collines
Vers les collines
Vers les hautes terres
Vers les hautes terres
11 All Systems Red (06:09)
Felt a tremor stir beneath my breath
That forecasts storms on the gallup poll
Woke up from the nightmare news
And hoping to read a sign in the morning air
Nothing changes here and nothing improves
All say my friends who just want out
And leave these troubles behind
Scatter like paper in the eye of the storm
Documented with a silent snow
That's only heard from far away
More cards in play, follow in suit
Everywhere you look, you only see red
And wonder when to call off the race
Watching a horse running down its last legs
Just when you think it couldn't get much worse
Watch the numbers rise on the death toll
And the chimes of freedom flash and fade
Only heard from far, far away
I hear you can't trust in your own
Now the gray is broken in the early morn
And the words forming barely have a voice
It's just your heart that's breaking without choice
Everything you've learned is distorted in your head
Bouncing off the walls, unraveling the thread
Staying up with the blue screen glow
Forgetting everything you ever dreamed years ago
When the dread is flowing down my veins
I want to tear it all down and build it up again
Tear it all down, build it up again
Hear your heart that's breaking without choice
I want to hear those chimes ring again
Ring again
Carico i commenti... con calma
Altre recensioni
Di Ginger Drummer
Con Garden Ruin i Calexico compiono forse il loro passo più ambizioso, un disco di grande spessore e di una bellezza disarmante.
L'epopea western lascia spazio a un nuovo amalgama sonoro, più introspettivo ed emozionale rispetto al passato.