Jorge Alvarez ist Solo Dos En Tijuana. Erinnert euch an die Zeiten als Calexico noch Spoke hießen und lofi-mäßigen Wüstensound fabriziert haben? So ähnlich aber ganz anders klingt der aus Venezuela stammende und in New York lebende Jorge Alvarez.
From the Mercury: Jorge got laid off, so he became a beatnik, smoking lots of grass and making recordings in his apartment. The result is Solo Dos En Tijuana, and a collection of bilingual tunes that are both bizarrely charming and eerily soothing. He uses a variety of instrumentation, but the guitar is its backbone, casually strummed or picked mariachi style. One of the music’s charms is the fact that it sounds truly original and difficult to categorize. It’s too pretty to really be rock, but way tougher and kookier than folk. His voice is deep but super-smooth, and the lyrics are simple, sincere, and mostly about love: „I was born so far away, so far away from here/You were born so right here/Lalalalalalala.“ No joke, it completely rules. MARJORIE SKINNER.