ALBUM REVIEW: Los Campesinos! 'Hello Sadness' abandons band's strengths for competent gloom
There are numerous amounts of cutesy ways this review could start off, such as joking that someone in Los Campesinos! must have gone through a bad breakup or something.
But when one of the most musically happy and bouncy bands around releases a new album called "Hello Sadness" with bleak, dark blue cover art, there is this feeling that something is amiss.
Los Campesinos! is almost synonymous with twee pop with a previous discography of crazy-energetic and blissfully cute indie rock songs. With classics like “Death To Los Campesinos!” and “Miserabilia,” the Welsh outfit was a group known for their hysterically hectic songs.
But "Hello Sadness" isn’t something you cheer up and party over, it’s closer to something you drink your problems away to.
The album starts out innocently enough for the first three tracks. Sure, “By Your Hand” and “Hello Sadness” are not up to the usual rainbow-dodging, flower-vomiting power levels of some of the heavier-hitting Los Campesinos! tunes, but it’s still nothing unexpected.
However, after that, the songs just become bleak and in some cases straight-up depressing. From “Life Is A Long Time” all the way to the album closer, “Light Leaves, Dark Sees Pt. II,” the tone is blatantly less cheerful.
“The Black Bird. The Dark Slope” and “Life Is A Long Time” still maintain a semblance of the band's normal sound, albeit much more mellow, and the last half of “Baby I Got The Death Rattle” brings some cheerfulness to the album.
But songs like “Every Defeat A Divorce (Three Lions)” and “Hate For The Island” are exceptionally dark-sounding songs.
“To Tundra,” possibly one of the most crushing songs to come from the band, is an extremely powerful and somber song and possibly the centerpiece of this album in terms of emotional value.
This album is dark, emotional and mature; even its more uplifting songs are still mellow and somber compared to previous efforts.
Does this mean the album sucks? Actually no, despite sounding like the party is over and all the confetti cannons have been put away, the songwriting seen here is still of the talent expected from the Campesinos! clan.
Dark as they may be, the writing totally adapts to this mature sound and the glockenspiels and violins that once added cavity-inducing happiness are now utilized to add emotional backing. The fact this switch works shows the great songwriting skills this band has.
However, in the end, this is still a jarring transition for the band’s music and fans of Los Campesinos! may find themselves in a tizzy with the lack of dancing sneakers to throw on and jam out to.
With smart execution of a mellowed direction, "Hello Sadness" is still an above-average release, but there can’t help but be a longing for the energy and chaos that originally made Los Campesinos! so mesmerizing.
3.5 out of 5 stars Genre: Indie Pop
