On "Carried to Dust," indie rock's bards of the border continue their remarkable hybrid: old Southwest dirges cross-bred with a particularly dark and brooding folk-pop. Few bands in the scene pull off such a natural dignity--or intimacy.
The result of the thousands of miles travelled since 2004's Feast of Wire, Calexico's Garden Ruin takes into account the enlarged line up of the band, its multicultural roots, the band's growing input into the songwriting and arrangement process, the arrival of a producer, new domestic arrangements, international affairs, broadening horizons, developing ambitions and changing scenery. Garden Ruin is definitely not the sound of a band standing still.