It’s easy to forget that Los Campesinos! aren’t kids anymore. The group still has that youthful exuberance from their early days (QRO early live review), but have undergone changes – at this point, singer Gareth Campesinos (QRO interview) and guitarists Neil & Tom Campesinos (QRO interview) are the only original, ‘charter Campesinos’ left, following last December’s departure of bassist Ellen Campesinos (QRO interview). No Blues is the band’s first record not to be distributed in North America via Toronto’s Arts & Crafts Records. 2011’s Hello Sadness (QRO review) saw the band trade in some of their exuberance, but Blues is the album that establishes that there is a ‘Los Campesinos! sound’.
While the band’s early life was peppered with hyper singles, compiled in their first full-length Hold On Now, Youngster… (QRO review), the group has been maturing with their music in songs like “The Sea Is a Good Place To Think About the Future” (QRO video) from 2010’s Romance Is Boring (QRO review). While on Sadness it felt like that oldster sadness took away somewhat from the band’s energy, No Blues sees it fit in better. “The Time Before the Last Time” and “Selling Rope (Swan Dive to Estuary)” serve as back-to-back epic, expansive closes to the record, while single “Avocado, Baby” has Gareth’s rapid-fire telling over Campesinos adventure (Gareth feels a bit more at the forefront of this record, which eschews the group’s earlier male-female duets). The band isn’t just downbeat – Blues opens with the glowing “For Flotsam” and uplift “What Death Leaves Behind”. And “Cemetery Gaits” is just great, pressing, Campesinos emotion.
Ellen’s last show (which also featured a guest appearance by ex-Campesinos singer Aleks – QRO interview) was released this year as the band’s first live album, A Good Night For a Fist Fight, and Los Campesinos! are at the place in their career to release a live album, especially with such great live shows (QRO recent live review). No Blues certainly follows in the path trod by prior Campesinos records, but by this point, Los Campesinos! have made their own road.
Los Campesinos! – Avocado, Baby
