The Los Campesinos! ship has been sailing in some rather choppy waters of late. Having survived three band members leaving/being fired and currently “of no fixed abode,” in many ways it’s a miracle that Hello Sadness was even made. Add that to the fact that lyricist and main singer Gareth was dealing with a pretty bad break-up (documented throughout the record) and you’d be forgiven for saying it was all a recipe for disaster. Yes readers, you’d be forgiven, but you’d also be wrong: as clichéd as it sounds, Hello Sadness really is a triumph over adversity.
Opening with the frenetic ‘By Your Hand,’ the album is emotive and engaging opus throughout. A pure joy to listen to ‘The Black Bird, The Dark Slope’ is as good as anything the seven-piece have ever put their name to , while the title-track and ‘Every Defeat Is A Divorce (Three Lions)’ (which, quite bizarrely, is about the English football team’s embarrassing exit from last year’s World Cup) sees the band debut a more mature sound. While some of the music on Hello Sadness might irk those who wish Los Campesinos! would return to the glockenspiel-led giddiness of their early albums, their sence of adventure ensures that they remain one of the most vital indie acts around.