One of the best indie-pop albums around - hold on now, listener.. (Hold On Now Youngster - Los Campesinos)

Member Name: Wezzo

Product:	Hold On Now Youngster - Los Campesinos
Date:	10/04/08 (93 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Excellent sound, fun lyrics

Disadvantages: If you don't like the band's sound after track 1, you'll hate it after track 12..

Cardiff, Wales-based septet Los Campesinos! (yes, the exclamation mark is necessary) have been making waves on the indie scene of late with their chirpy, fast-paced, pop culture-referencing and densely-backed variety of indie pop. The band have released two short EPs to great critical acclaim over the past couple of years; but 2008 sees their first full-length set, "Hold On Now, Youngster..", hit shops. Does it warrant the hype the music press have been keen to bestow on it?

I bought the album on the back of hearing excellent first single, and uncoincidentally first track, "Death to Los Campesinos!" (Think that's a weird title? Keep reading..) It's an absolute roller-coaster, pace-wise; the words-per-minute count has to be in the hundreds throughout the entire 2:49 running time. The lyrics are dominated by circular metaphors and near-nonsensical stream-of-consciousness ramblings - take the bizarre chorus of "If you catch me with my hands in the till / I promise, sugar, I wasn't trying to steal / I'm just swimming in copper to smell and pretend like a robot!", for example.

The call-and-response vocals of the two lead singers, Aleksandra and Gareth (who, as with all the band members, are credited as having the last name "Campesinos!" in the liner notes..) contrast nicely and ensure the tracks don't veer into They Might Be Giants territory (not that that would be a bad thing - but we've already got one TMBG, who needs another?)

"Broken Heartbeats Sound Like Breakbeats", the second track, is about as sincere and heartfelt as the band get here. The pace doesn't let up - it's still mile-a-minute - but the lyrics are more emotionally in-tune than than the first track ("Honey I'm taking far too many chances on these less-than-idealistic romances..")

"Broken Heartbeats.." seamlessly fades into track three, "Don't Tell Me To Do The Math(s)" (yep, once again, the punctuation is necessary). It goes along the same lines as the first two tracks; those not a fan of the Campesinos!' sound might be weary by this point, but I was still enthralled - and Aleksandra's sweet vocals get a chance to shine in an atypically sparse and calm chorus.

"Drop It Doe Eyes" centres around a bizarre chorus refrain of "Deer die with their eyes wide open". I'm not sure of how accurate their biology is but it's sung very sweetly - they're taking a leaf out of the Barenaked Ladies' book of setting pessimistic lyrics to upbeat pop, it seems, and it works pretty well. Its wall-of-sound background contrasts nicely with the quieter "my Year In Lists", which links sexual gratification with the minutiae of everyday life ("Send me stationery to make me horny!"). The occasional shouty backing vocals sound more like screaming children than I'd like but at just 1:49 long it goes by quickly anyway.

"Knee Deep At ATP" begins as another slower cut, but slowly builds to another dense, layered-vocal triumph. It continues the Campesinos!' slightly disconcerting obsession with punctuation and grammar in its lyrics this time: "For each correctly used apostrophe I could feel my heart sink in my chest in front of me.."

But even that's not as odd as track 7's title:

"This Is How You Spell, 'Hahaha, We Destroyed The Hopes and Dreams Of A Generation Of Faux-Romantics'".

Seriously. To reiterate: that's the song's title, not its lyrics. It pretty much follows in the same line as earlier tracks, which is sort of a disappointment - but then again, what song could possibly live up to that title? Plus it namechecks LiveJournal, which amuses me at least.

"We Are All Accelerated Readers" is next. It's one of the weakest tracks here, a bit Los Campesinos!-by-numbers - if a band can work by-the-numbers less than one album into their career, but still earns some brownie points for shoehorning the Venus De Milo and Bonnie Tyler into the same song.

"You! Me! Dancing", track 10, is one of the few songs here that made it onto one of their earlier EPs and it's a bit of a fan favourite. It's pretty good but at seven minutes long it can drag a bit, though the chorus refrain of "It's you! / It's me! / And there's dancing!" is very memorable - not to mention sweet in a most unusual way..

"...And We Exhale And Roll Our Eyes In Unison" (seriously, they must've picked phrases out of a novel at random, or something), is another superb track. The line "Four sweaty boys with guitars tell me nothing about my life" will probably speak to a lot of the band's fanbase, although I find the opening discussion of whether it's appropriate to wear heels while having sex ("It's really crass and frankly we're reasonably practical") the most amusing part of the track. The chanted outro of "Woe is me! And woe is you! And woe is us together!" recalls - positively - The Polyphonic Spree.

The album's final official track, "Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks", is one of the few tracks here that seems to express some form of internal philosophy: sort of a Springsteen-style restrained optimism ("Sweet dreams, sweet cheeks / Oh tomorrow..") As ever, it's immensely singable and the vocals are generally gleeful, but the occasional hint of a backing violin and a slightly more melancholy closing elevates this to be among the album's best, if only because it strives to represent something more transcendental than pretty much everything else here. After a fifteen-second silence, there's a hidden track 12. It's not quite as polished as a lot of the other material here but as a curio it's nice and it's pretty catchy too.

This is definitely an album that will polarise people. If you like The Shins, The Polyphonic Spree or They Might Be Giants, this is worth looking into; but if the sound of loud "indie pop" with shouty vocals and silly lyrics puts you off, this probably isn't for you. (I'd still suggest you seek out "Death to Los Campesinos!" on YouTube or something, though).

Personally, though, I fall firmly into the former category and love this album unabashedly. Nearly every song is memorable and the lyrics might be daft but they're always witty too. The band have carved out a pretty unique sound too, combining dense backing with a range of unusual vocal styles - even though some might argue it's led to a few tracks sounding a bit too similar.

The album is available on either CD or double-vinyl. Both contain a booklet filled with hand-drawn illustrations, thank-yous from the band and lyrics to the 11 'official' tracks. The CD can be found for around £8 online though you'll probably have to cough up double that for the vinyl set.

[The album contains explicit lyrics (though this is not noted on the package): one use of the f-bomb as well as occasional mild language and a few sex references.]

Summary: You'll love it or hate it.. I know which side I'm on