Los Campesinos! Romance Is Boring (Wichita)
4/5
By: Liane Escorza
Wow – my first utterance after hitting the play button. Romance is Boring has the ‘w’ factor, no doubt. Brutally honest in lyrics and equally aggressive musically, Los Campesinos! are a band definitely not afraid of much. You can tell by their experimentation with additional instruments (strings, brass) never used in previous recordings.
This explosion of distortion, riotous and crashing indie punk comes in the form of 15 extensive tracks with guest appearances by Jamie Stewart (Xiu, Xiu), Zac Pennington (Parenthetical Girls) and Jherek Bischoff (Dead Science).
In line with Art Brut or The Buzzcocks’ peculiar approach to punk, their music is dusty, harsh and hurtful. They are the types that look at you right in the eye when they talk about death, decay of the human body, sex, love, mental health issues – uncomfortable topics, open wounds, healing scars.
To top it up, they wrap it in frenetic spasms of delicately controlled musical anger. Romance Is Boring regurgitates, growls and creates an ordered chaos, a pre-meditated punch, a rehearsed kick to the gut. Yet LC!s tightness on record is worthy of remark, and it’s hard not to look forward to their tour and hope for an equally frenzied performance. Romance Is Boring – again, wow.
Artists in this article: Los Campesinos!
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