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Ultimately, this album ends up being a more naturalistic take on Calexico's sound; just because it's less stylized doesn't mean it's less interesting -- it just takes a little more time for Garden Ruin's power to reveal itself.
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It's what Sigur Ros might sound like if they came from Arizona, and it's truly excellent.
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Fans of Calexico's darker, rougher, and more cinematic work will pine for just that, even though the band's clearly evolving on Garden Ruin.
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The best thing about Garden Ruin is the way they look beyond country borders to engage with the wider world, both culturally and musically.
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This new set fills in the spaces with sweeter, fuller arrangements, but the songs are hit and miss.
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This time, the album’s a one-trick pony.
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The lack of truly classic Calexico moments marks the album as a transitory step: too far for some, not enough for others.
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Entertainment WeeklyTrue, some distinctiveness has been lost along the way, but that is largely recompensed by the quality of such tracks as "Cruel," "All Systems Red," and the quite beautiful "Bisbee Blue." [26 May 2006, p.106]
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Garden Ruin is good, but there are a bazillion alt-country Coors rockers who could pull this off, and coming from an outfit with such a remarkable past body of work it is a disappointment.
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MagnetThere are moments when all this earnestness turns sickly and Burns gets too serious about his gifts... but the eclectic moments of bass, banjo and French vocals... manage to jerk things back into focus. [#71, p.88]
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MojoSome of its finest moments are its most intimate and least arranged. [May 2006, p.99]
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New Musical Express (NME)There's always something heartwarming about a band discovering pop well into their career, especially when it sounds as good as this. [1 Apr 2006, p.43]
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Many of the familiar signifiers are gone, yet their well crafted and characteristically tuneful compostions still have a recognizable Calexico feel.
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There is a new-found ferocity at play.
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I'd never wanted Calexico to change, but the new direction suits them well, proving that even in the face of radical metamorphosis, they remain as stunning and distinctive as ever.
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In the end, Garden Ruin feels like a transitional album that will bear greater fruit later on.
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Despite the occasional moment when Garden Ruin sounds like a garden-variety alt-country-rock album, its moments of pure Calexico charm outweigh its missteps.
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Q MagazineThere's still enough trail dust on the seat of their experimental pants to delight country rock eggheads. [May 2006, p.123]
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Garden Ruin’s arrangements simply don’t arrest the senses as forcefully as its intelligent and aggrieved wordplay merits.
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It's the band's die-hards who will have to put in a good deal more work with Garden Ruin, an album that seems destined to be regarded as a "transitional" record a few years out.
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Calexico have abandoned much of the jazzy, mariachi-infused Americana pulses that characterized their former sound.
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At its best, Calexico does expand, opening the range of sounds to provide for new colors of expression; when it doesn't work, that open sound means a turn toward the basic, allowing prettiness to get in the way of sonic content.
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"Cruel" sounds like a mini-symphony, as do the fragile, faintly psychedelic "Panic Open String" and the post-Beatles singer-songwriter ballad "Lucky Dime."
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These are the kind of songs that gnaw their way into your consciousness.
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UncutBurns and Convertino prove they can play it relatively straight, without sacrificing Calexico's hard-earned status as a band that matters. [May 2006, p.104]
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Under The RadarTheir most accessible collection of songs to date. [#13, p.83]
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UrbPainfully unexciting. [Mar 2006, p.122]
User score distribution:
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Positive: 21 out of 26
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Mixed: 3 out of 26
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Negative: 2 out of 26
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SotirisTFeb 2, 2007A very good album. Not what Calexico fans were expecting but this album marks the exploring of new music horizons by Calexico.
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JonAug 17, 2006
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adricJul 13, 2006boring