Remedios

It seems all indie rock must lead back to Chicago, even for Parisian Thomas Belhom, although he chooses to make his home in Arizona. But it is this desert dweller, both literally and musically, is of course put into the same orbit as Calexico (whose Joey Burns Belhom has worked with), and of course Giant Sand (the original AZ desert indies who reside on Chicago's Thrill Jockey record label). So it seems completely natural to hear guest David Grubbs flat Midwest voice on the second track, "Twice Round the Harbor" of this nearly complete solo effort. And even without the nasally vox, many of the cuts here are more than a little reminiscent of Gastr del Sol in their lo-fi .minimalism The four-track vibe of these interludes in desert time creak with dust and cobwebs, whether combing through Ry Cooder badlands on "Mathilde," gently stepping out of time on "Web's Voodoo" or coming apart at the tattered seems on "Metastase." Belhom has no interest in sweeping gestures of melody or songcraft. Quite the opposite; this Frenchman gone afar seems to thread his various clangs, strums and mumbles as loosely as possible without stumbling into the realm of pure artistic vapidness. You don't have to favor "difficult" music to enjoy this album, but those who take music as a challenge won't be bored by it either.