Arizona band Calexico
(Picture: Piper Ferguson)The balance for new Christmas music (cosily nostalgic and lyrically traditional while still sounding fresh and surprising) is not easy to strike. That’s why Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas is You, from 1994, is probably the youngest song to take up solid residence in the canon. Calexico’s first Christmas album comes at the problem from a different direction entirely. The Arizona band’s name, a blending of California and Mexico, suits the sunny mix of Americana, country and Latin sounds they have generated across previous albums.
I had a tenner at Ladbrokes that they’d open proceedings on this “cross-cultural seasonal celebration” with José Feliciano’s Feliz Navidad but amazingly, it’s not here. Instead, original songs dominate over a handful of covers.
The lack of sleigh bells and addition of mariachi horns means the album could be used for more than December, if it wasn’t for lyrics about “putting together the string of lights in the living room”. Jaunty Mi Burrito Sabanero, by Gaby Moreno, doesn’t sound festive but is apparently a Venezuelan seasonal classic.
The closing track makes clear this is an album specially for December 2020, however. It’s a gathering of season’s greetings in various languages, including the words: “May next year be far better than this one.”
