Los Campesinos! - Romance Is Boring

Wales based indie kids release second album, which is far from boring.


Los Campesinos! are different to most indie bands around these days and that is definitely a good thing. Their eccentric style can only be categorised as Arcade Fire after having drunk a crate of Red Bull, from Britain, writing songs riddled with pop cultural references and geeky love problems. Their new album, ‘Romance is Boring’, is more of the same craziness that we have come to expect: with glocks one minute to guitars to synths to violins. However, ‘Romance is Boring’ differs from first attempt, ‘Hold on now Youngster’ and the b side go between ‘We are Beautiful, We are Doomed’. The band feel as if they have gotten a grasp on their own unique style with climatic, sudden changes in key used to their favour.

Each song is brilliantly layered, full of depth and passion that few bands have, but many try to impersonate. The album has a clear beginning, middle and end that again works to its advantage. The true magnificence about this band is that front man/lyricist Gareth really feels to be in touch with the zeitgeist for young people: these songs are catchy, singing about the troubles of being a young adult in the 21st century from love to greater problems.

There are many stand out tracks on the album, yet the truly phenomenal one is ‘The Sea is a Good Place to Think About the Future’. Released before the album as a free download off of their website, the track is a dark and harrowing tale of living and struggling through late modernity. It is a shame that LC! didn’t explore this more, but this does not take away the fact that this is a very special album that deserves to be heard by as many people as possible.

Like the other two releases, ‘Romance is Boring’ is an album that will rarely be cut down by the listener to fit only the singles or stand out tracks on their ipod. Instead, they will listen to this for weeks and months on end, a thing that has become a rarity in the ipod generation. What is more, ‘Romance is Boring’ actually gets better the more you listen. It is like a fine wine or whiskey, maturing in your head slowly till finally its true brilliance is flowing through your mind. Already a frontrunner for album of the year.