Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Accordion

CD REVIEW
Tara Linda & Luna Nueva - New Moon
self-released

You have to be intrigued by a musician who cites as influences PJ Harvey, Danny Elfman, Lydia Mendoza, The Pixies, and Edith Piaf. Who evolved from punk drumming to singing torch songs and rancheras. And who performs with a group called The Blue Fur Monkeys in addition to the Tex-Mex group Luna Nueva heard on this album.

The adventurous tracklist of New Moon begins with an spoken word story evocative of the film El Mariachi (if you substitute an accordion case for the guitar case), and proceeds through the sounds of the border, from boleros and cumbias to an accordion-led version of Johnny Cash's classic "Fulsom Prison Blues." The latter is among several songs that feel a little too loose, the productions feeling a little too rushed or perhaps too casual for the album's otherwise promising straddling-the-Rio-Grande feel. A little unevenness doesn't shake the appeal of other songs, such as the sparse mystery of "El Diablito y Su Accordeon," or the traditional cancion "Las Gaviotas."

[mp3] Tara Linda & Luna Nueva: El Diablito y Su Accordeon
from the album New Moon

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