For those yet unacquainted with September's Carried To Dust, Victor Jara's Hands (backed with Writer's Minor Holiday), the first release from said album, is a battle cry to take decisive action. Continuing, and building on, their growing reputation, this double a-side is ample testament to a band who sculpt heart-melting aural vistas.
Victor Jara's Hands is at first reminiscent of Feast Of Wires' Quattro, before a rousing, optimistic chorus leaps unexpectedly out of a tantalising, musically sombre verse. The Spanish vocals of the second verse fit perfectly with the mariachi rhythms that Calexico incorporate so seamlessly.
With ghostly, beautiful backing vocals, Writer's Minor Holiday is darker than its counterpart and is a reminder of Calexico's understated ability to make disarmingly beautiful chord changes, and to find perfect melodies. That this is done so unassumingly is all the more reason to fall in love.
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