No band begins as brilliant; the songs can be good, but they're only skeletons of the potential a band might possess. It takes years of practice, scattered releases, and thousands of hours between writing, touring, and practicing before a group fully realizes itself. Introduced to Look Mexico with their first full-length, This is Animal Music, I thought, "Bands like this don't just come out of the swamps of Florida. There's has to be some legwork?" And there is.
A compilation of all previous recorded work prior to This is Animal Music, Look Mexico's The Crucial Collection is worthy of its modifier. The set of songs are indeed crucial, not even for the super fans either. These songs bring a charisma that any listener will warm up to, though, personally, I'm attracted by the audible timeline this collection serves. Now I can hear how Look Mexico has grown.
While the band has become increasingly technical in their arrangements, the songs from the earlier EP's highlight the band's ability to set mood through tone and rhythm. The guitars are bright and full while being slightly fuzzy, always managing to standout while complementing the other instruments creating a state of reverie. The bass and drums further this tranquility as they swirl around the guitars, laying low to deepen the serenity only to accent with splashes when there's need to be awaken from the dream.
While the packaging in minimal, it still demonstrates the band's belief that the link between the visual aesthetic and the music itself is a sacred bond. Drummer Joshua Mikel, who does all the bands artwork, offers up some creepy but ultimately harmless creatures set against pastel backgrounds. Think Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are, but stranger and more loveable at the same time.
There are some downsides to this album but they have more to do with tracklisting than the music itself. If this were to be a proper chronology of the band, it would take the listener from the first recordings of the group to their most recent work, which appear on this release as b-sides from their first LP. Instead they choose to begin with their second release, The Crucial EP, and then follow it with their debut, So Byzantine. It doesn't ruin the disc but disrupts the continuity crab apples like myself look for. The closing tracks on this album, remixes and covers by other artists on the Lujo label, also leave something to be desired. While it's interesting to hear other's interpretations of Look Mexico songs, I believe these songs were added simply to bring the disc to full-length status. They don't ruin the disc but would be better left to their own releases.
Despite these minor flaws, Look Mexico still presents some musical serenity, perfect for listening to while laying underneath a tree on these hot summer days.
