Los Campesinos!

I know that I write about ! a lot. So I apologise if you don’t really like them. In my defence, I haven’t had much of a chance to write about their latest album. Once I do though, we can all move on for a while. At least until they put something new out anyway. Which at their current rate will probably be next week.

We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed seemed to be an apt title for a second album following less than a year after their debut. It seemed unlikely that much would be as enjoyable as Hold On Now, Youngster…, and let’s face it, the band always had the feel of having one superb in them before disappearing again.

Despite everything against it though, somehow WABWAD (the best acronym ever) manages to be a superior work, demonstrating far more range. Walls of sound are introduced, abstract instrumentals and Casiotone inspired short, sharp shocks rumble through the record. Thirty minutes later, we’ve covered more musical ground than a lot of bands would in a decade.

That isn’t to the say the pop songs that symbolised the original album are gone. They’ve just evolved. The title track offers exactly what the it promises. Racing through lines about breaking people’s teeth, decaying organs and stale relationships with such exuberance you can’t help but wonder if the master track got mixed up somewhere down the line. It doesn’t matter though. By the time Gareth spits out his ultimate condemnation of society with “we kid ourselves there’s future in the fucking, but there is no fucking future”, you just want to shout it out and roll your eyes in unison.

We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed was released back in October. Even though only 5,000 copies have been put out, with no more to follow, it still seems to be available. What the hell is wrong with you people?