El Mirador

Since their first album 25 years ago, the duo of Joey Burns and John Convertino have carved out a niche as Arizonan desert-noir rockers, fusing rootsy, cactus-strewn Americana soundscapes spiced with borderland stylings. For the most part the alt-country strand has been dominant on Calexico’s albums and the Latin flavours have offered embellishment rather than taking centre stage. However, on El Mirador the band’s tenth album, they’ve penetrated further south of the border to embrace more fully the sounds of mariachi, conjunto, cumbia and tejano.

The album was recorded in Tucson at the desert studio of Sergio Mendoza, who adds keyboards and accordion throughout, and proceedings get off to a cracking start on the title-track with a swinging Cuban rhythm, some Carlos Santana-style guitar licks and Guatemalan singer Gaby Moreno on guest vocals. ‘The El Burro Song’ is an exuberant party mix of Mexican trumpets and mariachi strings, ‘Cumbia Peninsula’, with Spanish rocker Jairo Zavala, is a swaying dance floor come-on about confronting our fear of the unknown and on ‘Cumbia del Polvo’ regular collaborator Camilo Lara adds playful electronic beats that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Manu Chao record.