|
 |
Los Campesinos
We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed
Review By Chris Drabick
Los Campesinos are now officially better on paper than on record. After all, they’re a boisterous seven-piece from Cardiff, full of bustling energy and tunes like earlier singles “We Throw Parties, You Throw Knives” and “You! Me! Dancing!” They also do a Ramones thing by hiding their surnames and have a witty referential streak throughout most of their lyrics. This sounds like a recipe for major success, yes? Well, no, not really. Earlier this year the band made its full-length debut with the schizophrenic Hold On Now, Youngster…, a record on which this band may have done well to follow the titular advice and rein in an overabundance of ADD. Less than one year later, Los Campesinos returns with We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed, another exorcise in spasmodic, fitful and discomfiting songs that reveal the band as consistently less than the sum of its parts.
It’s simply difficult to find anything to hold onto here. Nearly all the tracks have a moment or two of near greatness; witness the crushing crescendo the title track or the nearly New Pornographers-ish “Miserabilia.” The problem is that the moments of clarity are sometimes difficult to hear amongst the overblown “Documented Minor Emotional Breakdown #1” or “Ways to Make It through the Wall.” In addition, singer Gareth proves to not have the necessary tunefulness to carry the otherwise wonderfully arranged “You’ll Need Those Fingers for Crossing.” Beautiful does have brevity going for it, although perhaps combining the best moments here with the best from its predecessor may have done the trick. It may be difficult to ask this bunch to sit still for that long.
|
