Calexico: Spoke

Calexico is the happy fusion of Joey Burns and John Convertino, the rhythm section of Tucson's Giant Sand, and pedal-steel player Tasha Bundy. Together, they generate sparse, mostly Southwestern-tinged, lovely music. Most of the 19 songs on Spoke, like "Removed" and "Point Vincente," are quiet, simple songs, concerned with mundane matters and the mere passage of time. But Calexico, like Giant Sand before it, is a band of varied talents that can suddenly produce the Sergio Leone soundtrack feel of the instrumental "Scout," the loungy post-rock of "Stinging Nettle," or the Eastern European gypsy feel of "Mazurka." It's an unusual collection of elements, but Burns and Convertino are too experienced to fall into the easy traps of boring a listener by drawing a song out for too long or indulging in too much experimentation. It's easy to dismiss this sort of thing, however good, as a bunch of hippies fooling around with guitars in the desert. Don't cheat Calexico, or yourself, this way. Spoke is the sort of subtle, deeply textured recording that rewards patient listening.