Send "Los Campesinos! " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Pitchfork. |
 Los Campesinos! say they're not breaking up, and that's good enough for me. There's no denying, however, that the innocently energetic indie kids who banded together four years ago at the University of Cardiff, in Wales, are no more. Oh, they're still hilarious, still capable of thrilling a packed room, but this year's glorious, enigmatic Romance Is Boring-- like don't-call-it-an-album We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed two years ago-- isn't so much twee as grotesque. The group members still perform under the Campesinos! surname, but in recent months two have left: singer/keyboardist Aleksandra, in a long-planned move, and drummer Ollie, under somewhat mysterious circumstances.Now, in the form of a stopgap EP, comes another about-face. Los Campesinos! lyricist/shouter Gareth has let it be known that he hates acoustic performances. But All's Well That Ends-- available digitally or as a hard-to-find 10"-- is made up of prety much those, pulling together acoustic versions of four Romance Is Boring tracks in roughly the style of the band's NPR "Tiny Desk Concerts" appearance early last month. By its nature, the release is for fans only, particularly in its expensive physical edition. That said, Los Campesinos! are hardly trying to fool anybody here, and devotees have plenty of reasons to be pleased. Like the most contemplative moments from the last two records, All's Well That Ends points a potential way forward for this constantly evolving band. It offers an early glimpse of the new lineup and sheds clearer light on some of the group's most bewilderingly complex songs, without sacrificing intricacy or exposing too many shortcomings. I say "too many," of course, because exposing shortcomings is sort of Gareth's forte. If Romance Is Boring is in some ways the most cerebral Los Campesinos! record, it's also their most physical. Gareth is obsessed with bodies, and these new arrangements make it easier to notice the beautifully overwrought Roald Dahl vividness with which he describes them. There's a Hypercolor bruise, kept "like a pet, a private joke/ They told no others." There's a comparison of flabby bellies, an "ear to the door/ Listening to the landing floorboards" to figure out when the coast is clear to scamper from bed to bathroom. There's also a wonderfully, morbidly evocative image of a corpse dropped from a plane, so that it leaves a chalk outline capable, like something out of a children's game, of determining "the initial of who you'll marry"-- and here's a crucial difference from the kids' stuff-- "...now I'm not around." It's worth letting yourself get past the sublime, Andrew Bujalski-level awkwardness of Gareth's sexual declarations about "phallic cake" or post-rock to get to these gorgeously expressive details....full text |
| Consequenceofsound |
| To say that 2010 has been a rough year for Los Campesinos! would be an understatement. Their first year with new female singer Kim accompanying her brother Gareth was marred by an early leak of their third full-length, Romance Is Boring, then a volcanic eruption that forced them to cancel a number of dates to support that album. Finally, they had to ask founding member Ollie, their drummer, to leave the band for undisclosed reasons. But, it should only be expected when a band nearly hits double digits in members that there will be lineup changes from time to time, and Los Campesinos! seems to be using this philosophy on their four-song acoustic EP, All’s Well That Ends, in which four numbers from their previous record are re-imagined as stripped down, somewhat morose, but often intriguing affairs. There should be some sort of commendation on the part of Los Campesinos! for turning their lemons into lemonade, though some of the lemons may not have been totally ripe. The problem with an acoustic album for this band is that so much of their charm is built on the frantically played layers, led by a frontman who is more of a vocalist than a singer. Take away the overall loudness of the songs, and well, Gareth Campesinos doesn’t totally have what it takes to carry a slow song on itself. This is only a problem on “Romance Is Boring (Princess Version)”, the opener that sets the bar low for what is to come on the record. The song seems sloppy at the core, like something that was recorded while drunk in a dressing room. Even the female backing, which can usually anchor Gareth’s vocals no matter where they go, fail to save the song from being an ultimate throwaway, and nowhere near the quality that the album’s rocking version hits....full text |
| Theindiecindy |
| It’s amazing to think how far a band can come. See when I think about bands, I always question whether it’s all hyped euphoria or talent. If they initially impress it’s rarely that easy to guess, right? Los Campesinos! are easy to assess. As they release their newest EP titled ‘All’s Well That Ends’ there is a story worth telling ‘in medias res’ (also quite fittingly a title of one of their tracks.) As their stock continually rises and they are they get thicker into the action, you needn’t look further than to think of the story that has made them one of the brightest stars in British music right now. Starting their professional careers they earned all their ‘music stripes’ from storming the Cardiff music scene as students, and then proceeded to make their debut album ‘Hold On Now Youngster’ that was instantly a sound of their own. Although wrongfully punished by critics for sounding a bit twee at times, it was easy-pop, vibrant and chirpy. In their later releases they dropped the chirpiness & the twee tag. Instead they seemed to of gained enlightened from dark rooms & splitting-up with ex girlfriends. This classical EMO disposition, if you like, isn’t to be mistaken by pop-punk trash; it has instead allowed them to focus on creating lyrics that you can believe in & highly sophisticated positioning of instruments that culminate to provide some of the most context-thinking music being produced. ‘All’s Well That Ends’ is wonderful. The EP features the reworking of four songs from their ‘Romance Is Boring’ LP ( RIB ) released earlier in February. Although it would appear the band have turned their hands to recycling, it has allowed them to experiment with their approach. The tracks are now stripped down, and there ultimately a greater rawness to the EP. The guitars & violin have never been more noticeable. This organic feeling to the bands play, if you like, has been more apparent direction-wise since the release of RIB. Of the four songs being revamped, there are two stand-out tracks in ‘Romance Is Boring – Princess Remix‘and‘(All’s Well That Ends) In Medias Res.’ Other than the striping-down of the tracks, the most recognisable difference on the EP is the changeover from Aleksandra to Kim for the female vocal parts. Kim brings a different style to recordings, with equal amounts of compatibility to Gareth (Lead vocal,) but with a far more versatility. This is most evident in ‘Letters From Me To Charlotte (RSVP) ‘where the band are greatly enhanced by her folk-esk voice that works well with the pleasant, earthy acoustic guitar play....full text |
Los Campesinos! lyrics
