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Poppy Troupe Learns Life Can Kinda Blow

Listening to Los Campesinos! grow up over the years from opportunistic poptastic phrase turning tounge-and-cheeksters to morbid gear grinding loudmouth lads has been quite a journey. Arrogant, really, considering these crafty bastards have dropped three albums in two years time. If they were my kids, I’d wonder what crowd they’d gotten involved with as they’ve seemingly been slowly self-medicating ritalin since their 2007 EP Sticking Fingers Into Sockets. Two full lengths in two years and a cup full of grown-up has seen fit to atom bomb these big dreamers into sophisticated, irritated aristocrats with something to say further than, “Let’s party!” or “Let’s dance!” … and that’s a good thing.

Romance is Boring is a culmination of everything the band has learned, crapped out on, and quacked about over their youthful years. It’s as if Hold On Now Youngsters and We Are Beautiful were the car keys and a speeding youthful joy ride filled with envy and whiny paranoia, respectively. Now they’re taking a chance to reflect at the crash site about what the hell to do now. By being less egocentric for a short spell, lead singer Gareth Campesinos! is determined. Of course it would all sound the same – and sometimes it does - if it weren’t for the band discovering how to finally play as one. In the past, the Campesinos’ were a traveling trunk of instruments all fighting for space and literally tripping over one another to make their sound. Don’t get me wrong. Those poppy blasts of sugar rocks were what paid them bills and was deservedly well received. Romance is instead their first well timed and bated breath album chilling out just enough to make the moments of riot that much more. There’s grinding guitars - a rarity in their catalogue that tends to lean towards bells rather than electric cranks – in ‘I Just Sighed’. There’s also a lot of hurt in here watching someone falling apart in ‘The Sea Is A Good Place’ and the irreconcilable differences of ‘Coda: A Burn Scar In The Shape’. But just when you think they’ve gone grunge they pull you back under their familiar sweet and slick pop covers with ‘Straight In At 101’ while ‘Plan A’ screams of change but tangs in familiarity.

Taking into consideration where it all started, Romance is Boring is so mature it has the potential to either align with or alienate fans. This is a growth spurt; its stretch marks clearly visible when they allow you to peek under their clothes but beautiful when hiding behind all those instruments they know best. It’s memorable on a different level; void of catchy, but chalk full with sonic brilliance. Welcome to adulthood, kid-Campesinos’. It’s a bitch.

Sean Kendall