Los Campesinos

I think I have been a bit late on this one....by about three months. I am blaming a very disappointing second album for my tardiness.

Back in 2007 I absolutely loved Los Campesinos!, my favourite single of 07 was a tie between their 'You! Me! Dancing!' and Mumm-Ra's 'She's Got You High'.

Then in 2008 they released their debut album 'Hold On Now, Youngster...' and EEP 'We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed' both of which I adored. Their second album proper 'Romance is Boring' seemed to fall flat though, it felt a bit, well, bland, shouty, devoid of any heart. That was what I kind of loved about them, there seemed to be soul and fun and tune in their tales of hearbreak, rather than just being depressing.
They fell off my radar, that was until recently when for some reason I thought I'd see if they had anything new out, onto Spotify and boom! Third album. I thought I'd give it a try.
Surprisingly, and happily 'Hello Sadness' is a return to form and harks back to their early songs, full of life and poppy riffs, but with tales of sorrow and sadness. It's a more developed sound, less frantic and, well, if you were talking about a person, I guess you'd say 'they've become a more rounded individual'.

Since finding the album 4 weeks ago, I think I've listened to it pretty much every day, it's certainly making my top 5 for 2011 list, and the lead single, 'By Your Hand' is beyond a shadow of a doubt, my favourite single of the year. The chorus does sound a bit like they've been listening to a lot of Passion Pit, but that's not a bad thing ,not at all.