Los Campesinos – We Are Beautiful We Are Doomed
Los Campesinos’ Hold on Now Youngster… is likely going to enter my top 10 list for top albums of the year. When the Los Campesinos gang announced they would be releasing a second album in late October of the same year, many people questioned them as saying that they were banking off the publicity off their highly successful debut album.
If you were one of them, I’d like to tell you that you are an asshole. Los Campesinos had to stay that they weren’t doing this for publicity and that should be a big enough reason (I’ve read this on some blogs). As I’ve listened to more music, what’s wrong with releasing so much music? The Beatles did it and why should some artists wait years between records?. If you’ve listened to a Los Campesinos record it was pretty clear that if there was a band that could pull off a lack of production it would be Los Campesinos. It’s mainly their unrefined, messiness/sloppiness that adds into their charm. They don’t need to sound perfect on a record to be good so why spend an extra year working on said songs?
Enough rantings, their second album We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed has gotten very little hype despite getting some decent reviews. I even forgot to check it out myself.
I really didn’t know what to expect with this album. While I’ve been a big fan of Los Campesinos, I know they are hit or miss a lot of the time. I think this album ends up being more of a miss.
The album begins with “Ways To Make It Through A Wall”. The beginning isn’t so bad but I think that I’m having trouble hearing Gareth’s rough vocals. Aleks does contribute but hearing Gareth’s rough raspy voice is big key for me. It’s really held back compared to the previous album.
My favorite track off the album is of course the title track. It’s the most obvious and straightforward pop song, which is ultimately why I became a Los Campesinos fan. It matches the style of their previous album, which of course is not easy to pull off in the first place. I think the most obvious reason why the songs I like on this album are due in large part of being able to hear the combination of Aleks and Gareth. It’s a great combo that does not need to be drown out with Gareth having an annoying voice where Aleks balances him out. They are great musically, but if you check out this album would you rather have a track like the more simplistic*(relatively speaking) You’ll Need Those Fingers for Crossing or Miserabilia which is a mess save the last 1 minute.
There are songs that just don’t make sense and don’t work well at all due to the use of balance between strong instrumentation and vocals like on their previous work. “The end of the asterisk” is a huge freakin mess that I’d prefer to not listen to.
Still with that said, they are more hits then misses on this album. It does take multiple listens to really find what’s great about Los Campesinos on this record but with a second record just 8 months released after their first, I’d say this is pretty good despite being originally referred to as B-sides. I’d also do away without the sub-2 minute tracks which add…nothing.
Rating: 3.25 out of 5
They are a great band live and on record they can emulate that pretty well. They don’t need to shy away from using their vocals. More screaming or emotional perhaps may be needed in those incredibly loud sections or else songs go stale. At least the album ended better then it started.
We Are Beautiful We Are Doomed by Los Campesinos
You’ll Need Those Fingers For Crossing by Los Campesinos
Tags: album
