A Look Back at Los Campesinos! - "We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed"
Getting into a car and driving is rarely simple for me. Before I can shift into drive, I have to get a clean connection to Carplay. Then I've gotta pick the perfect music for my drive. The criteria? It has to be good (duh), and last for a minimum of a half-hour. Life in a sprawling city packed with awful drivers makes that crucial. The last thing I need is to fall into a stretch of unlistenable songs while being tailgated by some asshole. No sneaking and changing the album, or playlist in that all too common situation. This means what I choose before the drive starts is more or less what I'm stuck with. My Real Music Heads know how much pressure this can be. Even though you're the only source of the pressure, it's pressure nonetheless.
Well, on an afternoon not too long ago, I found myself caught up in this tired routine. I was headed to somewhere boring and unpleasant- the dentist's office- so obviously I needed the right music to prepare for it. Thankfully I quickly thought of one of my favorite bands of all time, Los Campesinos! This was a rare instance of a quick, and perfect selection before the drive.
Los Campesinos! is a band I fell in love with in high school. I can't quite remember how I came across them... Maybe it was a Pitchfork album review? Or possibly a Pandora recommendation? Either way, they quickly became a top-ranking, personal favorite of mine. They mastered vulnerable, confessional lyricism, and combined it with dynamic musical arrangements that incorporated most of the indie pop musical motifs I was fully immersed in at the time. As a young musician they had cracked a code I was anxiously aiming to unlock myself. They stood out because they balanced frenetic, maximalism with an incredible sense of melody and immediacy. The music felt like it was on the verge of falling apart at any moment, but never did. Like a wild dancer who manages to stay on balance just enough to not fall over while having the time of his life.
Their fantastic debut Hold on Now, Youngster holds the most sentimental value for me. However, We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed is probably the band's best album. They're still active, and put out a great studio album as recently as 2024. But those first two albums are undeniable the most special to me.
Well, my dentist trip pick ended up being their second album We Are Beautiful,.... Since my recent listening session of the album, I've gained an even greater appreciation for it. Hold On Now is incredible, but doesn't quite match the emotional variety captured in We Are Beautiful. The songs on the sophomore album lean less heavily on novelties like tons of violin, and the clatter of glockenspiel; each is used more sparingly, which makes them hit harder when they do show up. The pacing and mood of the album also ebbs and flows seamlessly in a way the first album didn't quite manage. Moments like the out-of-the-blue tremolo-picking and screaming guitar leads in "All Your Kayfabe Friends" feel like incredible treats- and these treats are doled out freely without feeling gratuitous. No moment is wasted throughout the runtime of the album.
Here we are 18 years after the album came out, and you really don't hear bands that sound anything like them. Even among their contemporaries in 2008, the band occupied their own lane. The album has amazingly tender songs like "You'll Need Those Fingers for Crossing", and "Documented Minor Emotional Breakdown #1". Each song feels like fully fleshed out journal entry, with strong emotional depth. Despite all the emotional variance, the mood always circles back to the joyful core.
We Are Beautiful has everything you want from Los Campesinos(!). There are only ten songs, and they clock in at about 32 minutes of runtime. The push-and-pull of loud and quiet moments provides plenty of contrast during songs, and instrumental codas often simmer to a bubbling close. And the band's cheeky and clever wordplay consistently catches you off guard. It's an album that, rather than overstaying its welcome, leaves you begging for more. And if you're going an a 30-minute drive it lasts just long enough to give you time to sit outside the dentist's office for a few minutes before stepping inside.
Standout tracks:
We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed
It's Never That Easy Though, Is It?
Documented Minor Emotional Breakdown #1