Los Campesinos! 

                                                 Hello Sadness 

                                                      8.0/10

                                                 Recommended 

It’s pretty clear by now what the objective of UK band Los Campesinos! is. The overly dramatic and tormented band aims to encapsulate those melancholy teenage emotions that swirl up around you when you experience those great but tumultuous moments in early life. First love, first loss, cheating, etc. – are all expressed with the most detailed written lyrics by group leader, Gareth Campsinos! 

Their debut, however, Hold On Now, Youngster… still remains LC’s best album. Since the 2008 release, the band has dropped two more LPs. Last year’s Romance Is Boring saw LC’s darker side and with that, a lack of immediate hooks and accessible tracks overall. On their newest full-length, Hello Sadness, things seem a little brighter (not by much) but with that, their sound returns to what you would expect to hear on their first two LPs.

The first string of tracks showcases the album’s best moments. Opener and lead single, “By Your Hand” is the strongest song on the record. It is an instant LC classic with lyrics like “We were kissing for hours with her hands in my trousers/ She could not contain herself/ Suggest we go back to her house.” “Songs About Your Girlfriend” could be found on Youngster with its opening, cheery guitar riff. The title track is another killer jam, chuck-full of erotic lyrics (Gareth belts out imagery of navals and fingering) and a tornado-like swirl of gritty guitars and metallic drums, and sounds like a We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed song.

Although Hello Sadness starts of strong, things crumble a bit in the middle. While nothing is terrible, things become forgettable and same-y, which was Romance Is Boring’s problem. The band doesn’t sound as lively and much, much too mature. While I totally understand their depressing, angsty shtick, it is executed much better with irony. Sing these personal depressing songs but in an upbeat manner. This “down in the dumps” phase LC has been in is really getting old and anything but interesting. Another thing I miss is the girl-guy vocals that was prominent in the first two albums. But with Aleksandra’s departure it seems the band could never get back their footing with that. 

Things pick up towards the end of the LP with “Baby I Got the Death Rattle,” a pounding, slow jam that sounds just like how you might imagine. Oh yeah and there is this lyric “In the frost I drew a dick for every girl who wouldn’t fuck me.”

Hello Sadness becomes a notch in the belt. It’s a pretty decent effort and quite enjoyable. It isn’t Los Capesinos! best work but it doesn’t try to be. The collection of 10 tracks is satisfying and at its best, offers the best qualities from the band’s previous albums.

Watch the video for “By Your Hand” below: