ALBUMS OF THE DECADE: WE ARE BEAUTIFUL, WE ARE DOOMED (2008)
Below is a list of just some of the great album’s released in 2008 which failed to make it onto our Albums of the Decade…
- Metronomy - Nights Out
- Hot Club De Paris - Live At Dead Lake
- Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours
- Neon Neon - Stainless Style
- Johnny Foreigner - Waited Up ‘Til It Was Light
- TV On The Radio - Dear Science
- Lightspeed Champion - Falling Off The Lavender Bridge
- of Montreal - Skeletal Lamping
- Late Of The Pier - Fantasy Black Channel
Bloc Party - Intimacy
And now, the reason why all the above records lost out; Los Campesinos! It is a testament to the pure unstoppable awesomeness of the indie-pop septet that we had trouble deciding which of the albums the band released in 2008 should make it onto our list.
That’s right, Los Campesinos! not only released an excellent début towards the start of the year but followed it up 8 months later (that’s 8 months!!!) with a ten-track miniature masterpiece. Ultimately it was this record, “We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed”, that convinced me this band were truly special.
If lead singer Gareth Campesinos! appeared just a little bit insecure on “Hold On Now Youngster…”, “WAB, WAD” saw him graduate to just plain unhinged, a man consumed with pure self-loathing. It is amazing just how much angst this record manages to cram into it’s 32-minute running time, with fresh embarrassment or heartbreak seemingly around every corner.
Gareth puts it perfectly on opener Ways To Make It Through The Wall when he sings that “the guy singing all the sad songs died, well I guess he was right, oh I guess he was right”. So the tone is set for the entire record, with next track Miserabilia containing some of the most bile-filled couplets ever heard. Of particular note is the lyric “I have broken down into the naked breasts of a newly ex / No dignity I can only guess that she thinks about it when she touches herself”. Charming
Elsewhere the frontman sings about eating disorders (You’ll Need Those Fingers For Crossing) and wonders what should upset him more; to see an ex “sucking the face of some pretty boy” or for them to do so “with my favourite band’s most popular song in the background” (It’s Never That Easy Though). The loathing isn’t all directed at self though, as The End of The Asterisk sees Gareth railing against a lover who has become “an absolute waste of time”.
It isn’t just the lyrics which are great on “WAB, WAD”, with the songwriting of Tom Campesinos! significantly stronger than on the band’s debut. Instrumental Between An Erupting Earth And An Exploding Sky is meticulously layered and constructed and, unlike many instrumental pieces, feels like a completely necessary and integral part of the record, while acoustic lament Heart Swells/Pacific Daylight Time is the most beautiful song the band have written.
Despite the evidence to the contrary this is not a depressing album. It’s a record to sing along to at the top of your voice and is in places just as playful as the band’s début. Throughout the lyrics display the same humour seen in the work of contemporaries Art Brut and Lightspeed Champion, as seen on album closer All Your Kayfabe Friends where Gareth earnestly sings “I died on a cross / trainer getting in shape for you”. On this record Los Campesinos! lost none of their early charm, instead writing a bigger, better, and (excuse the cliché) more mature record. I love everything about this album in a way that is probably not healthy, and there’s no doubt in my mind that “We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed” is one of the decade’s very best records.
Jed. x
