Los Campesinos!
All Hell
HEART SWELLS
Ever since forming in 2006 at Cardiff University in Wales, Los Campesinos! have delighted hundreds of thousands of concertgoers with their spectacular, seven-member stage performances. Like Andy Kaufman, the band can be viewed as purveyors of childlike fun and entertainment on-stage and off—it wouldn’t be surprising if the members of LC! took their crowds out for milk and cookies after their concerts. Like a Flaming Lips show, attendees never know when party paraphernalia might rain down from the rafters, or what confounding contraptions Coyne and company might pull out from the stage curtain.
Miracle of miracles, Los Campesinos! have finally found their identity with their seventh album and first release in seven years, All Hell, issued on the band’s own Hearts Swells imprint. Los Campesinos! grew up as a band during a time when rock groups like Gogol Bordello and Vampire Weekend were pushing the limits of genre following an era of reverent post-punk revivalism and alt-rock’s continued trajectory toward the mainstream courtesy of Coldplay and Muse. Surrounded by so much cross-pollinating and melding of influences, any young band would be thrown for a loop. And that was the case with Los Campesinos!, who tried their (fourteen) hands at styles ranging from twee pop to noise rock to the three-letter “E” word that shall not be named.
Los Campesinos! hit many, many high marks on All Hell, the most focused record of their career. Some are scoffing at how long it took for the band members to sound comfortable in their own skin. But if years of dabbling with dozens of different pop and rock genres resulted in the creation of All Hell, it was certainly worth the wait. The version of Los Campesinos! on this record performs—reminiscent of Ireland’s The Frames—with a confidence, elegance, and serious-mindedness that we haven’t heard from the band before. They swap out previous departures into experimentation and jamming for punchy, focused songs that ensure All Hell is a thoroughly captivating record from start to finish. In the midst of it all, the brief “kms” gives Kim Paisey an opportunity to showcase her sonorous voice. And “0898 Heartache” is a quintessential Campesinos! cut; a quiet start, a slow build into intensity, and a finish in a wash of distorted yet kind-on-the-ears guitar.
Back in 2009, I interviewed Paisey in a dark and dank El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles shortly after the band finished their soundcheck. “I don’t know what a band like ours’ legacy could be,” he remarked toward the end of our conversation. “But if it’s just that we brought some people together and made some friendships that’ll last for a long time, then I think that’s pretty rewarding in and of itself.” If those comments don’t make your heart swell even just a little, I’m not sure what to tell you.
