It seems like a forever ago since Los Campesinos! first made
impact, with light demos such as “It Started With A Mixx” and “Death to Los
Campesinos!” accidentally securing the “indie twee” tag. They are no longer the
circa 2006 group with flicky fringes, sensible shoes and bikini kill t-shirts; crooning
about paddling in fountains in the early hours and their fancy dress costumes.
Instead they have evolved – for the better – into pun loving, football
referencing musicians developing
decidedly darker and more abstract sounds (call them twee and they’ll spit in
your eye). The inclusion of the exclamation mark doesn’t really help in their
plight to drop the “twee indie” tag persistently thrust upon by review after
review – yet somehow they manage to mature, evolve into something new with each
new release.
No blues feels like a whole new playing field, revealing sneak peeks in the form of What death leaves behind all the way back in summer, for those of us who can remember back to a time where it wasn’t grey and pissing it down. This album feels like it was written for a live audience, with one-liners to rival the one about Tories in The Sea Is a Good Place to Think of the Future, including “EX BOYFRIEND GIVE US A SONG, EX BOYFRIEND BOYFRIEND GIVE US A SONG” of Glue Me and “A HEART OF STONE RIND SO TOUGH ITS CRAZY...” of Avocado Baby. It’s less glockenspiel and more smooth and rhythmic synths and punchy percussion, with more musical depth than seen on any previous releases.
For Flotsam is perhaps one of the most ideal openers to an album, combining sunshine like glossy backing vocals – in keeping with LC!’s constant ability to somehow appear as both 17 year olds getting high in a back garden and mature, accomplished musicians. Then comes the quiet bit, with only an acoustic guitar and a few voices heard, providing shivers and goosebumps on every arm within a mile radius.
There are hints to their shrieky roots, with What Death Leaves Behind falling into the whingey and high pitched vocal style seen in songs like We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed except this time with the backing of loud and poignant percussion, and sharp, humming guitars and again a far more accomplished sound.
However the stand out track from what is a near perfect album is Avocado Baby. This song manages to perfectly embody the euphoria of breaking up for the summer holidays aged 14, being in a mate’s garden drinking blue WKD and pear cider out of plastic IKEA cups. The squeaky beauty of the cheerleaders backing vocals are simultaneously young and stupid and naive and happy, yet aid LC! with their most mature album yet. This youthful reckless abandon hasn't really been seen since Hold On Now Youngster, specifically Y!M!D! and Sweet Dreams Sweet Cheeks, both very light and dancing alone in the middle of the dance floor with a bottle of warm beer and dignity in the form of a stained pair of jeans type songs. No blues lacks this throwaway sense of immaturity, but this not necessarily a bad thing.
The album rounds off with smooth and beautifully blotchy sounds, reminding us why Los Campesinos! are some of the best song writers of the 21st Century.
Verdict: No Blues is a rainbow of emotions and sounds, there’s less depressing elements as seen on previous LP Hello Sadness, but without losing their signature self deprecation – 8.5/10
Get your exclamation marks ready if you're lucky enough to be seeing them live in their upcoming UK and USA dates; yes blues if you're not xo
No blues feels like a whole new playing field, revealing sneak peeks in the form of What death leaves behind all the way back in summer, for those of us who can remember back to a time where it wasn’t grey and pissing it down. This album feels like it was written for a live audience, with one-liners to rival the one about Tories in The Sea Is a Good Place to Think of the Future, including “EX BOYFRIEND GIVE US A SONG, EX BOYFRIEND BOYFRIEND GIVE US A SONG” of Glue Me and “A HEART OF STONE RIND SO TOUGH ITS CRAZY...” of Avocado Baby. It’s less glockenspiel and more smooth and rhythmic synths and punchy percussion, with more musical depth than seen on any previous releases.
For Flotsam is perhaps one of the most ideal openers to an album, combining sunshine like glossy backing vocals – in keeping with LC!’s constant ability to somehow appear as both 17 year olds getting high in a back garden and mature, accomplished musicians. Then comes the quiet bit, with only an acoustic guitar and a few voices heard, providing shivers and goosebumps on every arm within a mile radius.
There are hints to their shrieky roots, with What Death Leaves Behind falling into the whingey and high pitched vocal style seen in songs like We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed except this time with the backing of loud and poignant percussion, and sharp, humming guitars and again a far more accomplished sound.
However the stand out track from what is a near perfect album is Avocado Baby. This song manages to perfectly embody the euphoria of breaking up for the summer holidays aged 14, being in a mate’s garden drinking blue WKD and pear cider out of plastic IKEA cups. The squeaky beauty of the cheerleaders backing vocals are simultaneously young and stupid and naive and happy, yet aid LC! with their most mature album yet. This youthful reckless abandon hasn't really been seen since Hold On Now Youngster, specifically Y!M!D! and Sweet Dreams Sweet Cheeks, both very light and dancing alone in the middle of the dance floor with a bottle of warm beer and dignity in the form of a stained pair of jeans type songs. No blues lacks this throwaway sense of immaturity, but this not necessarily a bad thing.
The album rounds off with smooth and beautifully blotchy sounds, reminding us why Los Campesinos! are some of the best song writers of the 21st Century.
Verdict: No Blues is a rainbow of emotions and sounds, there’s less depressing elements as seen on previous LP Hello Sadness, but without losing their signature self deprecation – 8.5/10
Get your exclamation marks ready if you're lucky enough to be seeing them live in their upcoming UK and USA dates; yes blues if you're not xo
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