Renowned for their melancholic outlook on life, it comes as somewhat of a surprise that Los Campesinos! have entitled their fifth album ‘No Blues’. First impressions can be deceiving though, and while the title may give the indication that singer Gareth Paisley and Co. have finally banished their woes, the truth is somewhat different. ‘Two words upon my headstone please, don’t need date or name, just sad story’ Paisley laments, a lyric that attests that things remain as bleak as ever in the world of Los Campesinos! And yet amidst all the melancholy (of which there is a lot), ‘No Blues’ is a strangely uplifting listen, one that is packed with some of best indie pop you’ll hear this year.
Melancholy and euphoria may seem like strange bed fellows but LC! are a very strange band. What other group on earth could come out with a line like: “Béla Guttmann of love / Curse all my exes to a life of celibacy”. For those readers that aren’t football hipsters/Portuguese football enthusiasts, Guttmann was a football manager in the ‘60’s who put a curse on his former team Benfica after being fired. Needless to say it’s the first (and probably last) time in music history his name will be used as a means to jinx a former lover. The obscure football references don’t stop there. The album is littered with them; Tony Yeboah, the Panenka, Joseph Desire Job and the 2004 League Cup final are all name checked. These inane lyrical musings combine with some absolutely terrible puns (Cemetery Gaits) to offer a great foil to Paisley’s otherwise agonizingly downbeat lyrics. Like a great dark comedy this album is heart rendering and funny in equal measure.
As refreshing, witty and odd as the lyrics are, they would mean nothing if the songs didn’t match up. Thankfully they do. As Lucerne/ The Low is the kind of widescreen indie anthem Arcade Fire wrote when Arcade Fire still wrote widescreen indie anthems. Glue Me is the album’s highlight and the bands best song to date, a gloriously catchy pop song that builds to a football chant inspired crescendo (“ex-boyfriend, give us a song”). Avocado, Baby is similarly anthemic; a brash and ballsy number that comes complete with a cheer leading chant-a-long.
The other seven songs that make up this album are equally as infectious and energetic; a mix of vocal harmonies, intertwining riffs, woozy synths, thundering drums, violin and horns. While on previous albums, this kitchen sink approach to song playing sounded reckless and ramshackle at times, on this album it’s all much smoother and much more composed; a sure sign that this band has matured.
This album almost didn’t happen with the band nearly splitting at the end of 2012. Thankfully they stuck it out as this is their finest work to date and ranks amongst the best indie albums released this year. It may not bring the band mainstream acceptance but if they can keep writing records as good as this one then its only a matter of time that they make the leap. When it does happen it’ll be completely justified. An essential album by one of musics best kept secrets.