Alejandro Escovedo: The Boxing Mirror : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

In the five years since Alejandro Escovedo released his excellent folk-blues collection A Man Under the Influence, he survived hepatitis C, quit drinking and got married. Developments like those could make for a doozy of a confessional record. Instead, Escovedo's ninth album is a resonant, if occasionally dour, mix of gritty, tuneful rockers and restrained, spectral balladry that evokes Leonard Cohen fronting Crazy Horse (or Los Lobos). With help from producer John Cale (Escovedo's Velvet Underground idol), slower cuts like the ghostly opener, "Arizona," and the near-death remembrance "I Died a Little Today" transmit their ruminations about mortality and middle age with dusty charm, and "Notes on Air" is a riveting combo of biker blues and Nirvana-style skronk. On "The Ladder," Escovedo nods to his Southwestern roots with a sweet, catchy Tex-Mex reverie, tossing another welcome curve into a record that balances toughness and elegance without losing its way.