As the popularity of Buzz Feed has proven, obtuse discussions
about popular culture are one of the world’s favourite pastimes. Whether it’s a
list of the 10 classic episodes of Seinfeld that would no longer work in the
mobile phone era, or a collection of GIFs from Game of Thrones, virtual
audiences can’t get enough.
So when my friend suggested over coffee that Belgium were
the “Alt-J of the World Cup; the hipsters choice for winners” it’s fair to say
that the idea snowballed somewhat. Which team was the best match for Britney
Spears? Which musician embodied the continual heartache that England constantly
put its fans through? And just who the fuck would be Iran? Well fear not - all
these questions are cleared up below.
Release wise, 2012 was a quiet year for Los Campesinos. As one of the most prolific bands around, it’s strange to come to the end of the year list and not to have a new record or EP to consider. This downtime has allowed the band to focus on other creative endeavours, in particular Heat Rash, their exclusive Fanzine. Each issue comes bundled with a vinyl 7” single that contains two unreleased songs and ‘Allez Les Blues’ is the highlight from the third edition. The track sounds is an off cut from fabric of the groups last record, Hello Sadness; one omitted because it feels like a rehash of old styles and structures rather than trying something new. Los Campesinos desire to progress is admirable and exciting, but fans of the group will be satisfied that this sullen indie-pop gem got a release of its own.
“By Your Hand” is the opening track from “Hello Sadness” the forthcoming album by Los Campesinos. Written after the recent break up of lead singer Gareth, the song recounts a familiar tale of falling out of love whilst trying to remain friends.
Recorded in small Spanish town just outside of Barcelona, in the same studio used by megastars Shakira and Mariah Carey the track is sonically their most downbeat to date and represents the biggest step they’ve made towards doing straight pop.
On their last album “Romance Is Boring” the Cardiff seven piece began to reign in their own tendency to burden a track with too many sounds at once, here finally they’ve mastered the art. Whereas before lyrics like “I’m not sure if it’s love anymore, but I’ve been thinking of you fondly for sure” would’ve been lost in a haze of sounds, on this recording they are brought into sharp focus.
This deliberately accessible composition means that every hand clap and vocal harmony now have real purpose. Allowing the listener to appreciate the articulate songwriting, which was always the quality that set this band apart from their peers.
“Hello Sadness” will be released 14th November on Wichita Recordings.
Los Campesinos! 02/02/2011 – London, Shepherd’s Bush Empire – by Kevin Lawson
I arrived at the venue a good hour and a half later than planned, meaning I had missed most of the support act’s set and wasn’t in the best of moods. The delay was the result of a meeting which had overrun, a taxi strike in Coventry and a cancelled train. I could spew reams of vitriol about each of those things but this is neither the time nor the place. The fact is I did manage to reach the venue in time to watch a performance by Los Campesinos! that left me and everyone else in the audience quaking in a raw throated stupor.
For those of you unfamiliar with their music, they are an eight piece indie pop band formed in Cardiff who write colossal sounding yet intimately articulate songs that brim with youthful energy. There is a knowing self parody in their recordings but they never sound anything less than genuine. Lyrically the band are ultra confessional, each song sounds like it was crafted from the entries of a bleak diary or from a Peep show style inner monologue that you wouldn’t dare utter aloud.
Tonight’s crowd is young enough to make me feel old (I’m 30, does that make me old?) and they all seem to have a dewy eyed loyalty to the band. This connection is more like watching friends play on stage than gawping upon them with star struck reverence. As the band takes the stage the auditorium comes alive. Choruses are roared back at the band with increasing passion, from light hearted party songs like ‘You! Me! Dancing!’ to depression filled break up anthems like ‘We are beautiful, we are doomed’. Circle pits begin to emerge that nearly reach the sound desk and lead singer Gareth is both feeding and feeding off this energy. Eventually diving into the heart of the mob, microphone in hand, before coming back unscathed. With each song being so personal you can see that the performance takes an emotional toll on him, so much so that when he reached set highlight 'The Sea Is A Good Place To Think Of The Future’ he was visibly upset and overcome, something that was later confirmed on the bands Twitter feed:
“1,000 people shouting "you could never kiss a Tory Boy without wanting to cut off your tongue again" back at me. Brought to tears onstage.”
It was an amazing moment of catharsis that was a rubber stamp of authenticity, confirming that the bands songs are not contrived notepad fables but are true tales of life, love, loss and misery. As songwriters, they could hold back on the details of their lives and deal in generalisations. But it’s their willingness to share so many intimate details and be vulnerable to the potential opinions of their audience that creates a bond that runs deeper than most bands are able to achieve. Another album is due to be released later this year and I can’t wait to hear the next installment of their lives.
I’m not sure how Los Campesinos! releasing a mini EP got by me, but it did. Well until now that is. It’s really caught my ears as sees the band stepping out of their usual wall of fuzz and guitar riffs.
Instead these new versions of songs from their 3rd album Romance Is Boring contain violins, pianos and a stripped away to nothing production that cynics might say is them jumping on the folk bandwagon. Even if there is any truth in such cynicism I don’t care one bit as the results are startlingly good.
Los Campesinos! songs have always crafted with very idiosyncratic lyrics, that unless you listen often don’t reveal themselves as intimate confessions of character flaws and past wrong doings. But slowed to crawl and removed from the wall of noise their intimacy is at once immediate.
It’s something that caught me by surprise and hints that the bands future direction could be something very different but equally great. That my friends is something to be excited about.
Since arriving with a bang onto the music scene back in 2008 with their debut album Now Hold On Youngster, Los Campesinos have wasted little time in recording a follow up and even a third album. Such prolific songwriting can sometimes diminish the quality of the work. The opposite is true of these guys.
There third long player 'Romance Is Boring' takes the best elements from their first two albums and amalgamates them into the my favourite record of the year thus far. I could have picked any pretty much any song to blog off the new album and after some deliberation I settled on Straight In at 101.
The song reminds me of various ex-girlfriends. Where things hadn't been going so well and we had laid in bed together bemoaning how our lives were, instead of making love. With neither of us being comfortable in the relationship or our own skins and how frustrating our constant psychoanalysis of each other was.
Its these feelings that the band capture to magnificent effect on this track. Each line feels like a snippet of conversations or actions that i've had in my various failed relationships over the last 8 years. The depressing thing from a personal point of view is that whilst i've cared for all of them, I know i haven't really been in love with any of them.
