An inspired grouping of three like minded characters, Geckøs features the line up of Howe Gelb (Giant Sand), M Ward and McKowski (Mark McCausland of The Lost Brothers). Gelb has collaborated with Ward and McKowski over the years but it was an invitation to a mutual friend’s wedding in Tucson that led to the trio’s formation. Invited to compose and perform a wedding waltz, Gelb and McKowski felt their effort was just too low key so Ward stepped in and added, as Gelb says, “That guy, he’s got celebration up the ying yang. He added all this wonderful melody and spark to it.”
Galvanised, the trio recorded several more songs in Tucson with Gabriel Sullivan producing before going their separate ways but the project continued with ideas pinging back and forth before recording sessions in Ireland, London and Bristol with producer John Parrish eventually tying all of these into this singular album. According to McKowski “I recorded the bulk of the backing tracks in my home studio in Ireland and then we met up in various places and finished the songs off together. The main formula was Matt and/or Howe would take one of my instrumentals and write to it, adding their vocals and instrumentation. It was all done very quick and fun!”
The album opens with that self same Wedding Waltz which kicked off the project. It’s a gorgeous tune, redolent of the romance of the Tex-Mex border, Ward’s voice perfectly pitched amidst the bustling stringed instruments, saloon piano and Mariachi horns. Indeed, most of the album inhabits a space which is undoubtedly indebted to the sounds of the USA/Mexican borderlands but McKowski, who arranged much of the music, speaks of a semi mythical world which he calls The Boneyard, and which allows many of the songs to sound as if they exist on a spectral plane, a borderland without borders if you wish. Having said that, Ward, who is of Mexican heritage, sings in what he calls “Spanglish” on several of the songs. There are elements of Leonard Cohen, gypsy music and ambient sounds all in the mix and, quite inspired, all eleven songs run seamlessly into each other with short instrumental bridges connecting them.
While there’s a whiff of Giant Sand on the Gelb helmed songs (Dance Of The Gecko, Black Diamond and Blame It On The Ocean) he certainly doesn’t hog the limelight. Lo Hice is a spindly slice of Mexican romance with Ward’s light voice tender and loving in contrast to his rich gravel on El Techno, a superb song which begs translation. There’s a cinematic quality, Morricone like, on the fabulous fable which is River Song while Botos Negros is like Leonard Cohen traversing the Mexican border. The album closes with Red Spade, a languorous and delicate border lament, reminiscent of Ry Cooder’s music for Paris, Texas, which features lyrics spoken in Japanese by Kiki Ohara (who did the album artwork), adding another layer to the worlds within worlds atmosphere of the album and closing it in a gloriously magnificent manner.