"We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed"
(Wichita)
five / ten
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LOS CAMPESINOS "We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed" (Wichita) five / ten |
Los Campesinos!' second album bounds out of the speakers like a pogo-ing, tight sweater wearing, half-wit, and proceeds to cajole you into frenzy of excitement for the next half an hour whether you like it or not.
Which is their problem. The band's relentless pursuit of hedonistic, big-hearted, big band indie-pop will either send you recoiling under the bed for cover, or have you joining them in a manic, bed bounce-athon. They are beautiful, but they are doomed to be terribly divisive. There are marvellous moments of high-spirited sugary swagger ('You'll Never Need Those Finger's Crossing', 'The End Of The Asterisk') and enough arch-humour in the hipster-doofus lyrics to admire ("You asked if I could be anyone from history, fact or faction, dead or alive and I said Tony Cascarino, circa 1995.").
But, if you're anything like me, ten exhausting indie barnburners later, you'll be declaring "I'm getting too old for this shit" faster than Danny Glover in Lethal Weapon.
Mark Keane
www.myspace.com/loscampesinos
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