Los Lobos

Tin Can Trust

(Shout! Factory)

Record Review by Kevan Peterson

Having released studio albums since the late seventies, there are few surprises to be found on Los Lobos’ new album Tin Can Trust, despite their deficit of any new output for the last four years.  That’s not to say that they’ve exhausted their creative energy.  The new album finds the band knocking out smooth grooves with casual indifference.  The beats and melodies seem to come to them easily enough, and although the lyrics are at times a bit dumbed down, the overall effect of the album is pleasing. 

Opening track “I’ll Burn It Down” features supporting vocals by Susan Tedeschi and gets the album off to a smoking hot start.  Follow up “On Main Street” sounds like it could easily squeeze into an episode of Yo Gabba Gabba with its “got a red light, got a green light,” chorus, before “Yo Canto” changes dialects and lets the Spanish fly in Los Lobos’ signature style.

Other standouts include the title track, which slows things back down to a crawl with its lackadaisical guitars, and the Grateful Dead cover “West L.A. Fadeaway,” which is not only a great song, but a shout out to a band Los Lobos used to open for.  Yes, when a band can claim they’ve opened for the Grateful Dead, they have been around for a while. Tin Can Trust is a strong album for those looking to continue down Los Lobos’ discography trail; newcomers should check out How Will the Wolf Survive?  Thirty years later it appears the answer to that question is: “through its music.”