November 10th, 2011 
James Shotwell 
Artist: Los Campesinos
Album: Hello Sadness
Genre: Indie pop
Label: Wichita
Hello Sadness is a discreet and refined work, a barely-there kind of album, with a subtle and enduring appeal. It’s composed of delightful little indie gems, all quirkily executed with a pleasing rhythm and simple, refreshing charm.
“By Your Hand” is a soft and mellifluous introduction to the album. It’s careful, as elsewhere, but catchy with a rogue and exploratory character. It has an instant appeal, enhanced by robust and firmly tongue-in-cheek vocals. The instrumentation is light and the song lilts along easily and naturally. “Songs About Your Girlfriend” maintains this kind of loose, irreverent, even DIY feel. The ability to say so much in such an understated manner tends to be a very British thing, and Los Campesinos’ inception at Cardiff University makes them no exception. The pace is a bit bumbling, but there is a hearty rhythm to the vocals and the guitar gives it a sharper underbelly. It excels in creating a feisty mood with very little music, the backing vocals playing an emphatic part.
“Hello Sadness” has a lighter touch and feels a little livelier. It has a beautiful bass line running throughout which infuses the song with an intoxicating beat. From this, it gradually gains momentum, although there’s a gentle kind of second-guessing evident in the slightly insecure vocals that gives it a bit more depth. It’s followed by “Life Is a Long Time,” an exquisitely executed track in which the guitar plays a luminous role. It adds a kind of searching, bittersweet undertone to the lyrics, offsetting the rigorous pacing and instrumentation. The guitar is pensive throughout and acts as a kind of musical conscience, laden with conviction. Yet, the track is a bit more layered than this suggests, tempered with sporadic clapping refrains as if to highlight life and conviction in lieu of the more sullen lyrical matter.
“Every Defeat a Divorce” opens with a slow and careful melody, implying introspection and reflection. The vocals oscillate between temperate and snappy, with a slow-burning fury clearly evident therein at times. The song is deceptively intense, with a standalone soaring riff grounding the chorus and bridge and casting a long, solitary shadow. It’s flecked with bitterness and the guitars can verge on quietly caustic, a vivid mix of vocals during the chorus matching this potency of sentiment. It’s longer than the other songs and a thought-provoking halfway point.
“Hate for the Island” is a gorgeous song. Its opening act is prolonged and wistful, set to drawn and haunted vocals. The overall atmosphere is cold and emotionless, feeling honest and upfront both in its icy music and disillusioned singing. “To Tundra” matches both this frozen musical landscape and the real-life harshness of its title, evoking a twisting fragility and fragmented emptiness. In spite of this, the track has a rich and pervasive sound. Its lethargic pacing makes it all the more engrossing, the tone is stark, and the instruments play tepidly alongside one another with a thinly-veiled sense of longing. “Baby I Got the Death Rattle” is tender and careful, seamlessly interweaving its backing chorus with the lead vox to create something touching and alluring.
“Light Leaves, Dark Sees Part II” is the final track and follows the second-half trend in being slow and melancholic. It’s an odd choice to end the album really, as it lacks detail and impact even for all the beauty of its sparse sound. The acidity of the lyrics stands out next to the stark instrumentation, and it feels very acrimonious even with the delicate longing of the backing vocals. It’s good, but a little too lethargic for my tastes – given the album’s rather loose sound, a little more definition in its closing verse would have been preferable.
Nonetheless, this is a mostly accomplished and striking work whose strength lies in simplistic, unassuming details that quietly possess you. Los Campesinos have an obvious expertise in crafting brooding, elegant pieces of music that will enchant and delight you in their own unique way. A serene and classy listen.
SCORE: 8/10
Review written by Grace Duffy
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