ln the 20-odd years that Calexico have existed, their sound has become ever more wide ranging, to not only include the traditional Latin sounds of mambo, mariachi, conjunto, cumbia, tejano, but also country, jazz, and post-rock. Nowadays, they largely occupy the terrains of Americana and alt-rock, with only the odd moment of the traditional that used to be a much bigger feature of their work. Founder member Joey Burns says, “There’s a little more chaos and noise in the mix than what we’ve done in the past.” It seems that keyboardist Sergio Mendoza has been keeping the traditionalist flame alive, filling his boots with his acclaimed Y La Orkestra whilst still a member of Calexico.

The Thread That Keeps Us is their ninth album, and was recorded in Northern California in a home-turned-studio called the Panoramic House, a space they called ‘The Phantom Ship’. Northern California is many hundreds of miles away from the tex-mex regions that they are associated with, and it shows, The Thread That Keeps Us rarely venturing into these terrains. They still do, however, and as it happens, they represent the album highlights. The fabulously grooving ‘Under the Wheels’ is a delicious brew of reggae, mariachi and psychedelic rock, topped off by Burns’ alternating spoken word and soulful outpourings: “Under the wheels of the war machine, always someone else’s scheme / Show me a sign when the world falls apart, from the core to the seam / the threads that we seek”.

Here, as elsewhere, there is a discernible politicisation. For sure they have often been concerned with issues of migration and displacement, but it’s more explicit than ever, albeit wrapped up in storytelling rather than grand statements, humanising the lives of the essentially disenfranchised. On ‘Dead in the Water’, the closest the album comes to directly commenting on the Trump doctrine, the song’s antagonistic character wields his power vindictively, threatening “A new kind of wrath”.

On the Wilco-esque ‘End of the World With You’ (“I thought you were the one who said cold wars are a bust… love in the age of the extremes”), and which name checks American artist James Turrell and his epic visions of light and space in the border regions, the mood is alternatively hopeful and fearful, while ‘Voices in the Field’ employs some of Burns and John Convertino’s former band Giant Sand’s shuffling desert-noir, whilst intermingling thoughts of soldiering on as the wild fires of California and Arizona burn and destroy. Again, hope trumps fear.

Calexico’s deepening musical eclecticism, allied to a less than expected polished sound is strewn over the 15 tracks. That includes three short instrumentals: ‘Unconditional Waltz’, ‘Shortboard’ and ‘Spinball’, all of whom are in essence edited jams. But then they pull out the Jimmy Webb 60s string-inflected pop-Americana of ‘The Town & Miss Lorraine’, which has a homely cinematic quality in word and sound. Meanwhile, the Pixies are recalled on ‘Eyes Wide Awake’, where ‘Gigantic’-era guitar is allied to Calexico’s trademark mariachi trumpets and, by way of antidote, there’s the repetitive electronic-psychedelia and trumpet-splattered ‘Another Space’, plus the experimentation of ‘Girl in the Forest’, replete with heavily reverbed Chris Isaak-style voice.

Like many-a-Calexico album there are some tracks that tread water, not going anywhere in particular. Their expansive diversity is perhaps a little unfocussed for a listening experience. Yet, The Thread That Keeps Us is at times raw and refined, messy and laser sharp, epic and folksy, and involving multiple shades of light and dark. At heart, it’s an album that deals with human fears and hopes, with Calexico’s on-going ‘fight’ shining through.

Jeff Hemmings

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