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Track Listings
| 1. By Your Hand |
| 2. Songs About Your Girlfriend |
| 3. Hello Sadness |
| 4. Life Is A Long Time |
| 5. Every Defeat A Divorce (Three Lions) |
| 6. Hate For The Island |
| 7. The Black Bird, The Dark Slope |
| 8. To Tundra |
| 9. Baby I Got The Death Rattle |
| 10. Light Leaves, Dark Sees Pt. II |
Product Description
Review
Depending on your level of commitment to these guys, with their strange public image that manages to be both inclusive and insular at once, the fourth studio album by Los Campesinos! is either more of the same, or an attempt to usher in a new era for the band. That is to say, they still make busy, winsome indie-rock with glockenspiels and lyrics that border on the uncomfortably oversharing. Yet the seven-piece have been through a number of circumstantial changes which have informed this album’s themes and sounds.
As well as having three members leave since their last album, early 2010’s Romance Is Boring, the group currently have no fixed location: they formed in Cardiff, having all moved there for university, but a majority are now based elsewhere. While Hello Sadness was recorded in rural Spain in spring 2011, the idyllic setting was tempered by LC! frontman Gareth dealing with a recent breakup. His lyrics were comprehensively rewritten to acknowledge this, and are heavy with loss and longing, magnified by minutiae like bus numbers and pub names (respectively: By Your Hand and Baby I Got the Death Rattle).
Gareth is never going to be a ‘great’ singer, in the technical sense, but his precise enunciation works well with his verbose words and LC!’s musical marriage of the twee and the dramatic. At certain points – such as the title-track’s chorus and the verses of The Black Bird, the Dark Slope – he recalls Robert Smith. While his stubbornly awkward band are unlikely to write generational rock anthems to match, they appear more purposeful than before, leaning more towards the swelling chorus and earworm refrain. To this end, when a turn is taken to the folky and low-key on Hate for the Island (the shortest of these 10 songs), it stands out, in a positive way.
Anyone who previously scorned Los Campesinos! for their unbending indieness is unlikely to be converted by Hello Sadness. However, the feeling is of a band, often self-examining and self-critical, becoming more comfortable in their skin. Maturity and sonic streamlining hasn’t removed the essence of what gave them their cult following. --Noel Gardner
Find more music at the BBC This link will take you off Amazon in a new window
CD Description
Not a band to rest on their laurels, this is the fourth album from Los Campesinos! in the four years since they signed to Wichita. Undoubtedly their strongest recordings to date, this is the first album to feature new drummer Jason Campesinos! and the first album on which Kim has taken over lead female vocal duties. ‘Hello Sadness’ is a record made by a band united, all pulling in the same direction with the result being their most lean, direct, coherent and simultaneously exhilarating and debilitating collection of songs to date. They returned to the studio with the producer of their previous two records, John Goodmanson (Death Cab For Cutie, Blonde Redhead, Sleater-Kinney, Wu Tang Clan)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Not only does Hello Sadness mark Los Campesinos' 4th record in as many years; it also marks their 4th consecutive great record. Over these years the band have shown a remarkable evolution from the looser, energetic "Hold On Now Youngster" to a tightly produced indie-pop sound on this record.
This is a concept album looking at the low and intense period that follows a break up and Gareth Campesinos!' lyrics remain as uncompromisingly honest and excellent as ever.
While the subject matter may sound depressing the songs are most definitely not. Opener "By Your Hand" has the most infectious chorus the band have written, the thrilling guitar lines (and a refreshing chorus sung by new member Kim) in "The Blackbird, The Dark Slope" will have you cranking up the volume and the build within "To Tundra" can be a real hair-standing moment.
Although an accessible album, for me, the album does benefit from repeated listens. Overall highly recommended!
Also, be sure to check this band out live!
Favourite song: Every Defeat A Divorce (Three Lions)
This is a concept album looking at the low and intense period that follows a break up and Gareth Campesinos!' lyrics remain as uncompromisingly honest and excellent as ever.
While the subject matter may sound depressing the songs are most definitely not. Opener "By Your Hand" has the most infectious chorus the band have written, the thrilling guitar lines (and a refreshing chorus sung by new member Kim) in "The Blackbird, The Dark Slope" will have you cranking up the volume and the build within "To Tundra" can be a real hair-standing moment.
Although an accessible album, for me, the album does benefit from repeated listens. Overall highly recommended!
Also, be sure to check this band out live!
Favourite song: Every Defeat A Divorce (Three Lions)
Format:Audio CD
Well I can only concur with the BBC review posted above; I've had my copy for a week or so (an early signed release) and there is less joie de vivre and more than a hint of darkness to the music/songs. Actually for an old fart like myself it somehow makes the music more approachable and, dare I say it, more mature. I've only listened to it 3 or 4 times thusfar (having been on a bit of a musicspendingfrenzy of late), and mainly whilst doing other things such as typing this short intro' (ie it's playing now!). I will supplement this intro' once I've given it a good spanking over the weekend. I've given it 5 *s as I have to give a score on it to post, & I've been impressed so far, but by Sunday night I may sneak back and amend it, just depending on a much closer listen.......
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
1 review
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Another Priceless Album by Los Campesinos
20 Dec 2011
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Having listened to Los Campesinos for a number of years now, I was anxious to finally listen to this new album. The Album has definitely not let down my expectations, it is quite similar in many ways to their earlier work, yet in my opinion it sounds somewhat more "pop-like" although not in a negative way. As always the lyrics are a joy to read, with clever, strange, original verses from love to eye colors. "It's only hope that springs eternal and that's the reason why this dripping from my heart is never running dry" from the eponymous track is a nice example of these amazing lyrics.It came with a DVD which was really funny, which you would guess if you've ever seen any of the Los Campesinos videos, they really do have a great sense of humor. If I had to compare it with earlier albums I would admitt that so far I have liked their other stuff more maybe just because I have got more time to listen to it. Anyway I'm highly pleased with this new album and I'm pretty sure any Los Campesinos! fan would be pleased too.
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