Los Campesinos! HOLD ON NOW, YOUNGSTER by kevin

Since I first discovered Los Campesinos! when they were (mercifully) overpowering Amy Winehouse’s set at Lollapalooza last year, I’ve spent the past 6 months having sadly abbreviated one man dance parties to their debut EP Sticking Fingers Into Sockets. Impressively, even at a mere 5 songs long, the Welsh septet’s catchy hooks and songwriterly lyrics have kept me fully engrossed even after a gluttonous amount repeated listenings. I’ve trolled their MySpace listening unreleased tracks, begging for a U.S. tour, and counting the days until the release of their full length album Hold On Now Youngster. This waiting game is nothing new to me, and invariably the result has been eventual bitter disappointment. So many times have my fragile rock and roll dreams been shattered, I was scared the first time I pressed play. I needn’t have been. The self appointed “Second most punk rock band in Britain” delivers here 12 of the most eclectic, introspective, and downright danceable songs in recent memory.

The disc opens on a rocking note with the young group’s signature song “Death to Los Campesinos!” This infectious, upbeat number sets a nerdy tone early, peppered with daydreams about robots. While imagery like “ctrl-alt-deleting your face” may seem too clever by half, that tends to be just how I like my punk rock lyrics. As the album progresses, the prevalent themes become quite obvious: the traditional rock and roll standbys of love and loss, intimacy and alienation. One could reasonably guess this just from a glance at the track listing, with song titles like “Broken Heartbeats Sound Like Breakbeats” and “This is How We Spell HAHAHA We Destroyed The Hopes and Dreams of a Generation of Faux Romantics.” Bonus points for actually incorporating the verbiage of these titles into the lyrics of the songs (unlike a certain once-prolific Indie Rock superstar I could mention).

What separates Los Camesinos! angsty stories of the heart from every other group of whiny emo punk-rock kids is the depth and complexity of their lyrics. Lead singer Gareth pours his soul into the microphone on every song, alternately delivering pithy insights (“when the smaller picture/is the same as the bigger picture/you know that you’re fucked.”) and taking us down long and rambling roads such as this gem from “We Are All Accelerated Readers”:

“I’m not Bonne Tyler/And I’m not Toni Braxton/And this song is not going to save your relationship/I’m not shitting/This sentimental movie marathon has taught us one thing/its that the oppostite of true love is as follows:/reality.”

The eclectic music pairs perfectly with the lyrics; Keyboardist Aleksandra’s supporting vocals provide a perfect complement to Gareth, and many numbers incorporate even more voices, creating a choral feel akin to The Polyphonic Spree. The instrumentation is similarly lush, with horns, violins, and even a glockenspiel lending fullness and variety to the melodies. And unlike so many other pop groups, the music actually serves to help tell the story. The wonderful “…And We Exhale and Roll Our Eyes in Unison”, opens loud and raucously, detailing an argument between a couple (“It's bad enough you ever use the word as an adjective/
But to suggest we do it in heels is really quite crass”). Over a mere two minutes the song deftly downshifts, leaving us on a quiet and elegiac note (“And woe is me/and woe is you/and woe is us/together.”)

The great strength of Hold On Now Youngster is how perfectly Los Campesnios! fuse these sorts of pining, inward lyrics with such irresistibly danceable music. Anybody who can’t get down to “Don’t Tell Me to Do the Math(s)” or the aptly titled “You! Me! Dancing!” must be a very unhappy individual indeed. The second most punk rock band in Britain has come to the U.S. And they’ve brought with them one of the most purely entertaining albums in recent memory, and easily one of the best albums of the year.

mediumkev@gmail.com