(Wichita)
It can be hard to
shake off a label once it gets tagged to you. Welsh band Los
Campesinos! Know this better than most, being grouped in with other
twee bands, . The group didn't do themselves any favours with
xylophone melodies and by giving their band name an exclamation mark.
Still, the twee label didn't seem to sit so well with them and their
albums following their debut seemed to be a reaction to it,
embracing darker themes and more varied sounds.
The band, who formed
in Cardiff, put out their first EP Sticking Fingers into Sockets
way back in 2007 and rode upon a wave of hype with their
ramshackle indie pop early tracks like We Throw Parties, You
Throw Knives and You! Me! Dancing displayed a sharp wit and humour in
singer Gareth Campesinos! which he combines with the emotional
weight, and confessional honesty of early emo. The band's fifth album
No Blues
carries the pressure of being the first without bassist and founding
member Ellen Campesinos!, but this album feels like it has a sharp
focus, as they bring some light back in to their sound.
What Death Leaves
Behind, the albums first single, also holds its biggest chorus, with
it's talk of tautology. But nothing is redundant here, with backing
vocals overlapping on the chorus its easy to get drawn in to the
grand melody. With a title that displays the word play that is a
standard for Los Campesinos!, Cemetery Gaits continues the pop
direction with its synthesizer arpeggios and acoustic strums. The
band are at their most direct and uplifting as Gareth sings
'Happenstance can wait for tomorrow/ cause you got to do it
right', his voice carrying a melodic weight to it that is a world
away from his coarse outbursts that made up his singing style when he
began in the band, at times coming close to a Morrisey-like baritone,
as he continues 'Your shoulders flow from neck like a wine
bottle's/ bare them broad tonight'. Its firm and resolute but
doesn't hide a sadness within the song tale of death and acceptance.
Avocado Baby somehow
manages to adopt the dangerous pop cliché of using a children’s
choir without it being in any way grating. Much of the album manages
to be bigger than before and whilst still sounding huge, the songs
have a variety of instruments and details you might not pick up on
first listen giving the recordings a depth. Elsewhere the distorted
guitar leads of As Lucerne/The Low remind you of their noisier
beginnings and the victorious build of The Time Before The Last Time
shows the can try their hand at different structures as the song
grows on the back of drum rolls and a triumphant horn section.
Selling Rope (Swan Dive To Estuary) might be the best song they've
done, with its huge scope, narrative intricacies and sweeping
orchestrations, their most definitive statement on facing life and
death head on.
Gareth's lyrics still
feel like emotional outpourings and it can sometimes be tiring just
keeping up with his manic delivery, still his words can be poured
over for double meanings and metaphor. He has a knack for unique and
articulate observations that you can't imagine being written by
anyone else. Of course, his heart on sleeve approach may be off
putting for some but just as many others will relish in picking them
apart. No Blues finds the band at their most confident, every
song seems direct and refined. The group are unafraid of simple,
upbeat songs with a verse chorus structure,
in fact they excel at
them. They've outlived and outgrown the twee label, now it is just
smart pop music, and not smart for its own sake either, just a mature
balance of light and dark and, more impressively, both thoughtful and
immediate.
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