TRACK BY TRACK: Los Campesinos! - Hello Sadness

“Before we went to Spain we sat down to discuss what direction we wished the album to take and without restricting ourselves too much with particular rules or dos and don’ts, we all conceded we wanted it to be a more direct and poppier affair then the last one.” - Gareth Campesinos

So, what happened? In short: Shit happened. Gareth broke up with his girlfriend before recording and the finished record is fueled by the resulting bile, vitriol, self-loathing and - you guessed it - sadness. Direct? Poppier? No way. But that doesn’t stop it from being brilliant. For a track-by-track guide to their most complete album yet, read on…

By Your Hand - “Here it comes, this is the crux, she vomits down my rental tux”

The very misleading first single, which fulfils the band’s poppier and more direct promise by virtue of being the catchiest song they’re written yet - sure there’s the usual cynicism in these lyrics - but nothing we’re not used to. So far, business as usual in Camp Campesinos!

Songs About Your Girlfriend - “All your friends agree on her soft spot for me, I’ll have my hard hands over her soft spot soon you will see”

Seemingly directed at his ex’s new beau, this is another song in the anthemic mould, with Gareth’s petulant gloating and boasts of his sexual prowess (“I always made her purr like a cat”) only serving to make his admission that “I never made her smile like that” all the more sad.

Hello Sadness - “This dripping from my broken heart is never running dry”

Another song released before the album, seeing the band making a huge, stadium rock sound (in a good way - more Arcade Fire than U2), and like the two songs before it this is poppier and it is direct. Sure there’s misery by the bucketload - but it’s a cathartic, defiant misery. Well, all thats about to change…

Life Is A Long Time - “You know it starts pretty rough, and ends up even worse”

And here is where the record turns - if the first three songs were the initial post-break up defiance, this is the realisation that there is no catharsis to be had in this misery, just loneliness and depression. And this is just the start.

Every Defeat A Divorce - “These three lions that are sitting on my chest, are clawing hard into my skin as I am gasping for my breath”

A psychologist’s field day here, as Gareth uses his parent’s divorce and England’s footballing defeats to try and come to terms with his current troubles. I’m still not sure whether the lyric “small comfort found in ABBA Gold and electronic chess” is a brilliant insight into how a child copes with divorce or pretentious rubbish. Either way, this song is the highlight of the album so far.

Hate For The Island - “Those entrails are how I’ll feel when you decide to leave me”

Guts and entrails are a recurring theme on this record, and another recurring Los Campesinos! theme comes up on this short acoustic interlude, with Gareth envisioning his ex being drowned, and confessing that “you wouldn’t see this smile leave my face for all eternity”. Chilling stuff.

The Black Bird, The Dark Slope - “The black bird dips it’s beak in blood and writes it’s thoughts in cursive, ‘cross the bones that are its jailer and my ribcage”

Oh Gareth, I really hope you’re alright… This song uses the extended metaphor of a black bird sitting “atop his guts” to examine the darkness within, and it all comes across very intense, Gareth asking “before I go, for you to drop a lit match down my throat, and smoke the bastard out or burn him to a crisp.” They promised sadness, and boy did they deliver.

To Tundra - “Take a body to water, take a body to tundra, just take me with you as well”

Seemingly set in the same church as Romance Is Boring’s Who Fell Asleep In, and with some similar themes, this starts off slow and atmospheric and culminates in Gareth manically barking, pleading for company over beautiful strings. It’s the lighters-in-the-air tearjerker, and it’s bloody brilliant

Baby I Got The Death Rattle - “I chewed my only necktie, from the metal frame of my bed, where I tied my wrists together, spent all night giving… oh, you get the message don’t you”

But after that brief moment of beauty, we’re back to bitterness, Gareth drawing a dick in the frost “for every girl that wouldn’t fuck me”. It all builds to an explosive musical and lyrical climax, Gareth proclaiming he’s been “digging my grave for quite some time” before group chants of “not headstone, but headboard, is where I want to be mourned”. It’s an absolutely stunning track which would have made a great album closer. But LC! aren’t done with us yet…

Light Leaves, Dark Sees pt II - “Oh for the sound of your pissing through the thin walls, or stroking your head”

Because they couldn’t leave us with all that bitterness - this is a more heartfelt conclusion, lamenting “the pain of the silence before bed” and finding unexpected pathos in the sound of pissing. Here Gareth’s vocals reach new levels of melodrama, almost caterwauling his way through the stripped back verses in tandem with the soft, reproachful group harmonies. It’s a devastating end to a truly brilliant album, which while not an easy listen sees the band, and Gareth, reaching a new high in their songwriting. They may not have written their pop record, but what they have crafted is something far more special, and may well be their best album yet

9/10

Jed x