"It's important to keep challenging ourselves."

Joey Burns of Calexico on the band's creative process. (Muzzle of Bees)

MoB: What is the core of Calexico’s sound then?

JB: I think it’s an approach. It’s this kind of aesthetic the way in which John plays the drums. The way we look at the instrumentation. The way we produce it and the way we kind of bring out the sound. We leave enough ambiance and room sound to what we’re doing. It’s about having a lot of diversity, a lot of variety, but again, the drums being a very important part of the mix.

There’s also kind of this fluidness between the core instruments – the guitars, the bass, sometimes cello. There are these lines that are woven around each other that aren’t about separate parts but bringing them together in a natural and intuitive manner.