The follow-up to the exceptional Hold On Now, Youngster, Los Campesinos!’ We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed, can best be described as an off the wall indie rock jamboree brimming with youthful energy.
It’s an album that is as jam packed with super charged multi-instrumental cacophonous mayhem as it is with absurd, yet poetically delivered lyrics about puking in a Mexican restaurant, late night booty calls and messing up some guys teeth. In other words this is a damn entertaining album that if it doesn’t make you want to dance in your seat as you listen to it then you might want to check your pulse.
The opening number “Ways To Make It Through The Wall” ignites the jamboree mayhem with a full guitar/violin attack, accompanied by dual male and female vocals with a full band chant of the chorus that immediately pulls the listener in to the off the wall world of Gareth Campesino and his band. “Miserabilia” continues the hyper-kinetic energy with swelling string blasts, melodic bells and the sweet vocals of Aleksandra Campesino who is later joined by Gareth in the song.
But while it’s energy is it’s strong suit, the best song on the album in my opinion is “You’ll Need Those Fingers For Crossing”, which calms the energetic storm for a stellar strings laced melody filled with dark confessional lyrics that strangely counterpoint one another perfectly making for a highly emotive personal song pulled straight from the depths of ones mind.
The most impressive part about this CD is the stamina that carries the amped up energy through out every single song. The final track, “All Your Kayfabe Friends”, packs as much punch as any song on the album. It actually packs so much a punch that it is a major downer when the song ends and you come to realization that the album itself is done. It is absolutely heartbreaking.
Clocking in at 32 minutes the Los Campesinos! have made one of the most explosive and exciting indie rock albums of the year. This is a pure sugar rush of an album that captures the exuberance of a live concert in a blazing 30 minutes CD.
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