The news that Los Campesinos! would have another new record still this year took everyone by surprise, insuflating expectations everywhere. After all, a mere 8 months have passed since the suberb "Hold On Now, Youngster" was out, and that album was loaded with an impossible dose of contagious and irreverent energy that seems to happen only once in a band's lifetime. So how to follow it up? Detractors and fans agree in one thing: this Cardiff collective seems to have swallowed a complete catalogue of the last 15 years of indie music, regurgitating them into their own sound, and that is once again evident in "We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed". So this means a new collection of beautiful chaos, complete with twee-pop references, witty lyrics, cathartic explosions, handclaps, cute harmonies, boy-girl verses and absurd amounts of catchiness everywhere. But there was also space for growth in the last months, as demonstrated by details such as new twisted song structures or the use of dissonance to broaden up some of the songs atmospheres, while renewing a feeling of urgency to create genius anthemic songs. In the end, where does this leave us? Are we having more of the same? Maybe so. But bolder, sharper, catchier and even more excessive than ever. As they say: "Shout at the world because the world doesn't love you / Lower yourself because you know that you'll have to". (9/10)
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