Albums
< Los Campesinos!
Hold On Now, Youngster...
words by Danny Canter
A friend of Loud And Quiet’s is such a Los Campesinos!-head that he hates ‘Hold On Now, Youngster…’. You know the type – the bloke that whinges about how their debut album is too polished, compared to the utra-rare demos he – and only he, of course – has acquired as a true fan of the band. It’s not raw enough anymore and E4 used a song on a TV ad soundbed once, so he’s washing his hands of these mainstream sellouts. Yep, he’s a the same fool who hates Klaxons now that they’ve become award winners, but still claims Black Flag as his own.But then Los Campesinos! are one of those precious bands. A whirlwind gang (7 strong, who met at Cardiff University) of hardcore fans who race through shambolic, angelic rom-pop, they’re a band to hold close and claim as your own. Only ‘Hold On Now, Youngster…’ suggests that Los Campesinos! are soon to be not merely the property of those ‘in the know’. If you’re a current fan who doesn’t like to share, get out now!
To the obsessive, perhaps certain rough edges have been smoothed out during the 'Hold On Now' recording sessions, but it’s nit-picking. Everything you hear here harbours the kinetic exuberance of an LC! live show, which see this band of multi-instrumentalists bash xylophones, hammer cowbells, break violin strings and fall over, as much as is possible on recorded device. As a whole, the album excitedly bounds along and trips up itself throughout. Largely thanks to the gushingly passionate outbursts from lead singer Gareth, tracks that could have easily turned out to be twee shrugs become dynamic heart-pounders to fall in love to.
The self-damning ‘Death To Los Campesinos!’ is the kind of track that Arcade Fire would enthusiastically bumble down stairways to, if only they learned to smile, while ‘Broken Heartbeats Sound Like Breakbeats’ is a more tuneful Help She Can’t Swim, due to Gareth’s yaps and the sweet co-vocals of keyboardist Aleksandra.
‘You! Me! Dancing!’, like every track present here, could have only been written by a band of almost graduates. Still weary of how its peers perceive it (in the vocal), it’s the bitter/sweet dance hit of the record, which is rightly more sweet than indeed bitter.
‘…And We Exhale And Roll Our Eyes In Unison’ then goes on to see Los Campesinos! mutate into a primary colour-splattered Irish folk troupe, wigging out and wailing on spiked whiskey, probably, before ‘Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks’ is far from being a relaxed last orders, instead coming across like 4 minutes of Absinth-necking madness. Ringing out with an almost a-cappella football chant of the chorus, it concludes with a sense of unity that this band no doubt desire.
It might have taken 7 Los Campesinos!es to create this perfect party album for the new year, but, rather brilliantly, it is clear that ‘Hold On Now, Youngster…’ is for everyone currently realising that having a good time is the only resolution worth making.
9/10
In Stores Feb 18
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