Algiers (CD)
Calexico
Amoeba Review
Calexico’s noir folk sound grows even more majestic on Algiers. The band’s eighth album finds them as confident in their sound as they’ve ever been, becoming more soulful, more embracing on tracks like opener “Epic,” which balances warm verses with a darker chorus. In particular, Joey Burns’ and Jacob Valenzuela’s vocals mesh beautifully on the propulsive “Splitter,” and Burns carries “Sinner in the Sea” through its spooky, spiritual setting of sparkling piano and minor-key guitar, suggesting the New Orleans setting the band has said helped inspire the record. Calexico have often evoked various times and places, namely the desert setting of their namesake, and Algiers can’t help but feel like the work of a band at some mysterious port-town dive, whether that be in New Orleans, Algiers or any number of Spanish-speaking cities, calling out Santo Domingo and strumming Spanish guitar in “Puerto” and going back to their mariachi-inspired roots on the Spanish-sung “No Te Vayas.” Surprisingly, Calexico’s globe-trotting, more pronounced than ever, holds together and doesn’t feel like dilettantism; rather, it helps not define Algiers by one specific time or place, instead conjuring unspeakable feelings of nostalgia and becoming lost in another culture. Wherever Algiers puts you, you know the feeling.
Track Listing
Disc 1 Titles |
Artist |
Length |
---|---|---|
1.
Epic
|
Calexico | 04:16 |
2.
Splitter
|
Calexico | 03:30 |
3.
Sinner in the Sea
|
Calexico | 04:14 |
4.
Fortune Teller
|
Calexico | 03:57 |
5.
Para
|
Calexico | 03:53 |
6.
Algiers
|
Calexico | 03:42 |
7.
Maybe on Monday
|
Calexico | 03:37 |
8.
Puerto
|
Calexico | 04:23 |
9.
Better and Better
|
Calexico | 02:33 |
10.
No Te Vayas
|
Calexico | 04:15 |
11.
Hush
|
Calexico | 04:22 |
12.
The Vanishing Mind
|
Calexico | 03:54 |