Calexico – Edge of the Sun

A Calexico album takes a few months to sink in. No doubt, peeling away the layers is a gratifying experience, but it takes some time, and when you think you’ve reached the center, you’re still not quite there.

Stories of Struggle

I’ll be honest – I was late to the Calexico party, really not becoming a devotee until falling head over heels for their 2012 release Algiers, an album I’ve probably listened to more than any other record in the past three years. I suspect Edge of the Sun will take a similar route; I’m still getting into it, pretty much one song at a time.

Both albums explore political themes and the human condition. Calexico does an admirable job of personalizing the immigration issue. We shouldn’t have to be reminded that every person who crosses the border comes with a story – a life full of hopes, dreams, and regrets. This album brings those stories to life. 

Behind founder Joey Burns’ smooth vocals, the band stirs up songs from the dusty sun-drenched Arizona desert, and the many spaces across that desert into Mexico. The songs of Edge of the Sun are also heavily influenced by the sites and sounds of Mexico City, where Burns and drummer John Convertino spent time preparing the album.  

Falling from the Sky

The album opens with “Falling from the Sky,” a song which develops the lyrical theme of the album. With help from Ben Bridwell of Band of Horses, the soundscape is warm, but the lyrics are somewhat bleak. And like other tunes on the album, it asks more questions than it answers.

Where do you fall when you have nowhere to do?
Where do you go where you have no one to see?
What do you see when you have nothing to feel?
What do you feel when you’re all alone?

The dark mood continues on “Bullets and Rocks.” Iron and Wine’s Sam Beam helps out with the not so veiled messages about the dangers exploitation in the journey North …

“No fear, no harm was meant; The smuggler joked
And down they went; The devil’s highway
Disguised as a cloud of dust and smoke

Narcos and feds; Are all intertwined
You can leave your valuables here
With me he smiled”

Neko Case, an artist the band once backed, also appears on the album. Her layered harmonies and distinctive voice rise to the top on the dreamlike “Tapping on the Line.”

Where are you from?

The mariachi charged “Cumbia de Donde,” with alternating Spanish and English lyrics asks the simple question.

De donde tu eras? A donde vas?

Where are you from? Where are you going?

The song is a romp through the desert, and already a live concert favorite, a rockin’ ride along the Arizona-Mexico border. The beat is hot, this song could be remixed and end up on dance floors across America. Like other Calexico tunes, it takes on challenging political issues, while remaining a love song, not about a person, but this time, about a place.

“I want to go
To this beautiful land
That’s far away
Where there’s a smile
To dance the cumbia
A flame, a flame!”

“Beneath the City of Dreams” is another album highlight. It’s a slow rocker, propelled along with horns and strings, like the hero of the song, who “dreams about swimming, miles away from the sea.”  And the tejano tinged instrumental “Coyoacan,” (a likely reference to the historic neighborhood in Mexico City) is a song just waiting for the right movie soundtrack.

Follow the River

“Follow the River” comes at the end of the story. The lyrics tell the story of the struggle of finding one’s way, perhaps on a route to freedom and a new life, perhaps the way back to a lost love.

“Shadows are calling, and I’ve been down all day 
The city’s asleep but my mind keeps running astray 
I dream of you in the falling rain”

As always with Calexico, many of these are songs about borders, those artificial (but significant) ones made by politicians on maps, and those in hearts and minds of human beings. The lyrics on this album can be dark, but the music doesn’t feel that way – its uplifting, inspiring, even joyous.

Edge of the Sun is an album that rocks softly around the edges and gets hotter as you get to the core. Two months after its official release, I’m still peeling away new layers, finding new sounds in this seemingly bottomless record. If you haven’t checked it out yet, go ahead and cross the border to Calexico.