Unsurprisingly to Calexico fans, Edge of the Sun is a stylistically and instrumentally diverse record. The opening sequence of songs, Falling From The Sky, Bullets & Rocks and When the Angels Played, eases listeners in with subdued folk rock opulence. From there it branches out, taking a more adventurous, Latin-inscribed route on songs such as Cumbia de Donde, Beneath the City of Dreams and Moon Never Rises. Having made eight albums, co-founder and frontman Joey Burns says there’s no cut and dry approach to developing each one, but there’s a general urge to move away from what’s come before.
“That usually informs what we’ll do next or where we’ll go next. In 2012 we put out Algiers, which we did some of the recording and writing [for] down in New Orleans. That record eventually became kind of introverted and mapped out more of an internal landscape. This time I wanted to turn the lights on and turn up some energy and I couldn’t think of a better way than to go to Mexico City, which is another place I’ve wanted to spend more time in. I went there with John [Convertino, drummer and multi-instrumentalist] and our good friend Sergio Mendoza who plays keyboards with us. It was fun to go to do some writing, to record those sketches, [and] some of those sketches became actual tracks for the record.”
In the spirit of making a more energetic record, the band invited a number of guest vocalists into the studio. Early on, there’s a trio of names indie rock audiences will be familiar with – Ben Bridwell (Band of Horses), Sam Beam (Iron & Wine) and Neko Case. However, the more conspicuous vocal contributions come from Spanish musician Amparo Sanchez (on Cumbia de Donde), Guatemalan singer/songwriter Gaby Moreno (on Miles From the Sea and Beneath the City of Dreams), and Mexican indie pop performer Carla Morrison (on Moon Never Rises).
“The idea of asking people to come and sit in was one of the final thoughts of making the record,” Burns says. “The song Bullets and Rocks, after recording this idea and I put some scratch vocals on and doubled those harmonies, I was reminded of the feel and the sounds of working with Sam Beam of Iron & Wine. So I thought, ‘Well, I’ll just reach out to him.’ I sent him a text and he wrote back, ‘Hey, I’ll do it next week.’
“I’d never met Ben Bridwell of Band Of Horses, but I’d been a fan. Ironically he even lived in Tucson at one point. Carla Morrison is a very popular singer from Mexico. She works with the same label and manager as Sergio. The same thing with Gaby Moreno.”
As the title suggests, Cumbia de Donde is a flirtation with the dance-oriented form of Latin American folk music, cumbia. Along with Sanchez’s vocals, the track makes use of drum loops and synthesisers. It’s not entirely unfamiliar territory for Calexico, but it’s nevertheless a brave songwriting experiment.
“It came about because [Convertino], who had just recently moved to El Paso, Texas, needed some time before he could get to the studio. So the first day was just the bass player, myself and Sergio Mendoza. We wound up just making up some ideas based on cumbia rhythms.
“We’ve always had a lot of influences just by virtue of being excited about different kinds of music and styles.”
BY AUGUSTUS WELBY
