Calexico occupy a specific and perhaps difficult space in music, mixing their alt-country with Latin sounds that might be too Español for regular country ears, but also too indie for aficionados of Spanish music. In reality, they do great in both fields, such as 2018’s more alt-country The Thread That Keeps Us (QRO review), or now the more Latin lean of El Mirador.
There is the sly Spanish jazz of the titular opener and others on Mirador, but also big Spanish horns like with the nicely upbeat “Cumbia Peninsula”. Meanwhile, the band lives up to their ‘desert noir’ descriptor nearer the end of the album, such as southwestern gallop “Rancho Azul”, subdued ride out of town closer “Caldera” – and instrumental “Turquoise” is the soundtrack for the buzz-hit Mexican-American border streaming crime drama that hasn’t been written yet. It all comes together best with Calexico’s road-haunt on tracks such as “Then You Might See” and “El Paso”.
While they might never reach wide enough to hit it big in one of the sonic spheres they straddle, Calexico instead craft their own uniquely skilled sound.
