Los Campesinos! - Romance is Boring

I know what you're thinking. No, they are not Hispanic; they are British, so don’t worry about not understanding the lyrics. I was introduced to this band in 2008 after their sophomore release, We are beautiful, We are Doomed, which I originally thought was a bit too much. However, the more I listened to the album, the more I saw potential in this band. The band has everything you could ask for: they're hip (God, I sound like a lame dad saying that), can write cute pop songs when they need to, whip into songs that are nothing but kickass, and above all, they're talented musicians.

What I find most impressive about this band is that their songs can drop on the dime, ranging from frantic, pretty, tunes to an intense and heavy mess of sound. On Romance is Boring, the first track works as this epic overture for what is to come. There are a wide range of instruments, gorgeous melodies, sudden changes in mood, and awesome lyrics of teenage angst. The one thing “In Media Res” is missing is the crazy time signatures that get featured on this album, which puts drummers in a perplex position. This “over-cooked” sound, categorized by an unhappy Allmusic reviewer, actually made this album my favorite Campesinos record to date. I really enjoy when bands try to throw as many different styles into one album (perhaps why my favorite album is Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot) but it is even more impressive when a band actually does this in just one song. I do admit that sometimes the band overdoes this concept, but for the most part this notion of pressure cooking a song works really well.

There are a few notable examples on Romance is Boring where one can clearly see that these guys have a very unique sound. “We’ve Got Your Back” hits you with this delightful keyboard part and really gets you hooked (I mean really, it’s like crack). Then all of sudden after a minute and a half of listening you get smacked with this explosion of sound. It’s fantastic. It might be my favorite moment on the record. Another instance of this combination of sweet, but yet powerful sound is “Plan A.” I know that it is a bit intense in the beginning, but what I love about these two songs right after one another is that they counteract each other. “We’ve Got Your Back” starts as really charming and moves to a more forceful sound, while “Plan A” does the exact opposite. The dynamics achieved on this record are what many bands strive for, but can never reach.

I really do not understand how this band is not huge. This album has three incontestable fantastic songs. In terms of direction, “Romance is Boring,” the first single off the new album is considerably the most straightforward song. However, there are certainly other songs on the album that I can see being huge. The next, chronologically on the record, is “We’ve Got Your Back,” which, as I said previously, is just a phenomenal amalgamation of two very different concepts that are at work. However, better than both these bona-fide hits, is the marvelous “Straight in at 101,” which you can listen to below.

I know there are certainly people out there who will listen to this record and immediately turn it off for sounding unauthentic and crass. I know this because I was once one of those people. When I would hear a little bit of yelling I though it as immediate rubbish, but it’s really not. Los Campesinos! definitely deserve some more lovin’.

Rating: 84/100

- Greg