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Now five albums into their career, Los Campesinos! could release virtually anything and it would sound sunnier than the gloomily-titled ‘Hello Sadness,’ which preceded it. True to form, the sextet are in shimmering form and for the most part, balance rollicking, up-tempo melodies with sweeping orchestral and choral arrangements and a sprinkling of electronics.
Gareth Campesinos!, the band’s divisive mouthpiece and melodically-challenged front man, is destined to further exorcise the demons of his past as an irritating indie-referencing smart arse by delivering the musings of a jaded barfly with a quasi- baritone. He covers some familiar ground, conjuring images of death and the natural elements, muddy football pitches and a sordid shower scene, but there’s stronger sense of hope (just compare the album’s title and artwork with the last three), which creeps in like light under a doorway.
The infectious ‘Avocado, Baby,’ driven by a white-hot rhythm track and a choir of cheerleaders, is one of many standout moments and the purest pop song the band have written in years (incidentally, the video casts Gareth as a suicidal TV game show host, who decides at the last minute to turn his gun on the show’s guests, before lighting a cigarette and donning a pair of sunglasses). Elsewhere, the sombre, Tony Yeboah- referencing ‘Glue Me’ cleverly marries the singer’s morbid fascination with loss and sorrow to his love for the beautiful game and sounds like a sequel to ‘Every Defeat A Divorce (Three Lions).’
Although ‘No Blues’ may not be as expansive as 2010’s ‘Romance Is Boring,’ it’s stronger than ‘Hello Sadness’ and more refined than both of them. More importantly, it feels like the arrival a band that have consistently tried to distance themselves from the twee-pop trappings of xylophones and cardigans, before discovering a more natural comfort zone closer to home.
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