Calexico Serve Up Unpretentious Feast

The Phoenix Concert Theatre

Toronto, ON

on Jul 6 2006

Cameron Gordon (CHARTattack)

07/07/2006 2:30pm

The winsome double bill of Calexico and openers Oakley Hall proved that Toronto has a thirst for indie rock doused in Southern Comfort. Both acts demonstrated their unique slant on traditional southern music, updated and morphed into uniquely modern styles that borrow from the past while remaining decidedly forward thinking.

The irony is that Oakley Hall actually hail from Brooklyn, but you'd never know it from the sounds on stage. Boasting six members and a decent arsenal of instruments, including a tricked-out keyboard and violin, the band played a solid if unspectacular set that made for a decent introduction to their cosmic country sensibilities. Cool male/female harmonies tempered the set and at times and guitars would flare up and move the music into a more psychedelic pastiche. Yet, with density comes dissonance and accordingly, the band could stand to trim the fat from certain tunes to tighten up their stage act that much more. Luckily, cool tracks, like the lively "Living In Sin In The USA," did a good job of warming up the crowd.

Of course, it's not like the consummate showmen in Calexico need much priming. Led by affable frontman Joey Burns, the group don't pander to their audiences, but instead win them over with a strong combination of musicianship, chemistry and songwriting. Opening with "Roka" from 2006's Garden Ruin, the band played an hour-plus set that equally matched power and restraint, and demonstrated Calexico's patented Tex-Mex sensibilities (yeah, yeah, I know they're from Arizona).

Boasting plenty of pedal steel guitar and brass exclamation, the set weighed heavily on the aforementioned Garden Ruin and 2003's Feast Of Wire. "Across The Wire," "Cruel" and "Bisbee Blue" were performed with precision, set against a very cool video background displaying various desert iconography such as rodeos, flatbed trucks and a rather spirited fight between two horses. All the while, Calexico showed a high degree of professionalism and resolve not often seen in indie rock circles.

The band threw out some cover tunes for good measure, all done over in typical Calexico fashion. The Minutemen's "Jesus And Tequila" was reinvented as a slowburning paean to cacti and other dessert ornaments. Meanwhile, the band plucked "Alone Again Or" from Love's landmark Forever Changes album and played things a bit more straight, keeping the tempos intact and bumping up the trumpet content a couple of notches.

One complaint that's often lobbied against the group is that their instrumentals far outshine the other songs in their catalogue. It's a fair assessment, as Burns' vocals seldom add or detract from the arrangements. To further belabour this point, the tracks where the band's twin trumpets lead really tended to stand out in the live setting. Bountifully blown by bandmates Jacob Valenzuela and Martin Wenk, it's the brass that really set Calexico apart and Valenzuela even took a turn on lead vocals, providing a powerful alternative to Burns' restrained vocal stylings.

Anyway you slice it, the music of Calexico is inventive, intelligent and 100 per cent devoid of pretension, and for this, they are top notch live act.