Calexico
Carried To Dust

THE RETURN OF THE MARIACHI  

An uncovered car crosses the desert, travels southwest, pierces dusty sunsets and light breezes, night is about to arrive, sleep, words, and confessions mingle with the dust...

"Carried to dust" is open space and road, it is a haunting and dusty journey through ghost towns between Mexico and Arizona, a journey that marks the return home, between mud and rain, the Calexico take a step back and find the sun again, the high noon that reveals cinematic atmospheres, almost Morriconian that amidst gunfights and coffins unveil a gem, and a return to the past.

"Carried to dust" is Burns' travel diary, it is the photo of La Chascona, Via Fernando Marquez de la Plata 0192, Pablo Neruda's house, and thus it is Poetry, but it is also history and protest, that of Victor Jara Martinez, singer-songwriter, poet, and political activist victim of Pinochet's dictatorship, a sense of nostalgia pervades the entire album, but there is also hope, a promise, the one that invades all journeys, the discovery of a new horizon, the uncertainty and allure of tomorrow that uncertainly appears just beyond the surface.

After 12 years of activity, Calexico find the road again and craft an introspective and nostalgic album that can evoke scenes of infinite landscapes bathed in light and warmth, but that in a moment can fill with visions laden with tension, where "Man made lake" suggests a twilight where everything rests before the apocalypse and in "Slowless" Burns duets with Pieta Brown, accompanied by a slide guitar they capture the photograph that is the essence of a place, the desert, "Contention city" is a warm breeze that lazily leads to an idyllic lethargy, with the collaboration of Doug McCombs of Tortoise, "House of Valparaiso" is the typical Calexico song with mariachi trumpet and the countermelody of Sam Beam of Iron and Wine.

The sixth album of Calexico brings back the old sound of the band, that magical mix of indie-rock and alt-country that in the past had thrilled, but it also carries doubts and suspicions, at times it feels as if the pieces of "Garden ruin" return dressed up to please the fans, but that is another story and when the splendid notes of "Red blooms" show that melancholic music can fill a room illuminated by dim light and that the image of the desert can fill the heart, one understands that music is art and art is not subject to economic laws when analyzed outside the space-time criteria.

"Carried to dust" is not revolution and it is not innovation, but a simple return, the affirmation of a band that comes to claim what is theirs and that beyond everything can sound wonderfully evocative.

"Slowly dies he who becomes a slave of habit,
repeating the same itineraries every day,
who does not change the brand or color of his clothes,
who does not take risks,
who does not speak to those he doesn't know.

Slowly dies he who avoids passion,
who wants only black and white and the dots on the i rather than a set of emotions;
emotions that make eyes sparkle,
those that make a mistake a smile,
those that make the heart beat in the face of mistakes and feelings!

Slowly dies he who does not upend the table,
who is unhappy at work,
who does not risk certainty for uncertainty,
who renounces pursuing a dream,
who does not allow himself at least once to flee sensible advice.

Slowly dies he who does not travel,
who does not read,
who does not listen to music,
who does not find grace and peace in himself.

Slowly dies he who destroys self-esteem,
who does not let himself be helped,
who spends days lamenting his misfortune.

Slowly dies he who abandons a project before starting it,
who does not ask questions about what he does not know,
who does not reply when asked something he knows.

Let us avoid dying in small doses,
always remembering that being alive demands an effort far greater than the simple act of breathing!

Only burning patience will lead to the attainment of
a splendid
happiness."

"Pablo Neruda"