This is Los Campesinos! third album in twenty-four months, and thus as a result comes with some very loaded characteristics.  The band’s creative process must truly be engrossing to accomplish such a feat.  One might also consider the slight monumental nature of this album for its comparatively more bitter tone when placed against the cheerfulness of their previous album Hold on Now, Youngster….  In your frenzy of being tense and/or undecided of this record, rest assured that this is an album produced by the same band that brought fans their debut record Vuelta por el Jefe and their previous record just mentioned, before arriving here at this curious point.  This septet still retains it’s spunky and bratty indie-punk sensibilities.  Even in this effort do they display their trademark ability at throwing themselves towards the hook of a song, deftly skating around obstacles in order to arrive at their goal.  Lyrics are still sung with an adeptly-handled force, words & sass exchanged between Gareth Campesino and Aleksandra Campesino in proper dueling form can still be seen.  This is a band that still retains its grasp on dynamic timing.

Little was revealed by the band when details of this album were initially released.  Aside from a full track listing, they simply wrote, “It is a record about the death and decay of the human body, sex, lost love, mental breakdown, football and, ultimately, that there probably isn’t a light at the end of the tunnel.”  Given these words and the emotional tone of toll of the album, one has to wonder if this album is a study in the near-insanity a man faces between post-relationship feelings and finally being able to pull himself together.  And if circumstances may afford this article one more “given”;…given the natural and immensely upbeat tone of their previous work, one has to ponder what it is that’s occurred to this septet that might motivate such a shift in approach with their music.

Regardless of what brought the band to this point, the songs all stand up with remarkable strength.  “There are Listed Buildings” for instance, drips with the British indie-pop that often characterizes the band’s homeland these days.  The video for this single drips with imagery as well.  It’s depiction of a nice-enough couple at a carnival reflects the lights and energy of the band, not to mention the couple’s status at that time as well, but as the video is quick to show us, things eventually change between them (the couple, that is).  Thus from this point on the viewer is treated to a selection of sequences and images that depict a man more disturbed and off-kilter than anything else.  The man is left to lurk around a manager that he cannot face, a man whom may or may not know better regarding certain topics, whom he is in fact afraid to face head on.  If the video is meant to act as a sample of the album’s theme as a whole, then Romance is Boring is meant to be a study of a man steeped in difficult-to-deal-with memories of a fresh past.  Brief glimpses of the man in this video holding hands with this woman whom was once with him, juxtaposed against awkwardly distant glares of what one may assume is their present status, clearly communicates this.

In addition to this particular track is a smattering of other worthy numbers…”Plan A” for instance, is overtly cantankerous (and yet may be this reviewers favorite track from Romance is Boring).  “Who Fell Asleep” is barely a ballad, which might actually be a shame, considering the relentless pop-intensity of the album could probably stand to have a breather or two in its midst, not just for the sake of a break, but to help facilitate a better appreciation for those songs that are it’s stylistic opposite.

Naturally, with a band of this size and structure, a number of instrumentation is employed – horns, strings, various electronics, electric guitar, what’s often not given credit in liner notes for projects such as these is the tangible sensation of lyrical bite produced, while wandering through this wilderness of unrestrained emotion.  While the album comes out with a decidedly poppy sound, there is paradoxical lyrics and subject matter being sung.  Maybe this is irony, or maybe this is a deeply ingrained sense of sarcasm from the voice of a bitter man trying his damnedest to get over whatever it is that’s caused him so much pain.  Gareth Campesino sings with a sense of empathy for his own words and experience.  His efforts, and those of his six other Campesino siblings, are most definitely worth a listen.

(8.0/10)