This is a more accessible album than previous efforts. Where the open blue skies of the landscapes they chronicled before were tempered by the smoky dark blues of their jazz influences, GARDEN RUIN is musically brighter. Lyrically too, the album takes a left turn in which contemporary rather than mythical America is addressed. Put succinctly, GARDEN RUIN is where Calexico fill those dusty, empty landscapes they documented with a big, big sound.
Reviews:
Dusty Tucson atmospheriticians Joey Burns and John Convertino have earned a rep as cultivators of the most parched yet lyrical sort of Southwestern-flavored soundscapes. This disc, recorded with veteran producer J.D. Foster (Alejandro Escovedo, Marc Ribot) is purportedly a twinge more rockinthough, were sure, no less moody for that.