All these Sick Scenes: Los Campesinos!

Following its release last Friday, I've had Los Campesinos!' sixth album on constant repeat. It has followed me on a ten-hour return trip to Devon, daily commute to work and baking cheese scones. I guess you could say it's an adaptable album.

LC! are a band very close to my heart. They accompanied a large part of my adolescence and then followed me through my uni years. I found the 'Romance is Boring' album really helped my essay writing. Sadly I've had to grow up and now I listen to them as the 'business woman' I've accidentally ended up badly becoming (help).

This seven-piece band have a talent at producing catchy and (for the most part) upbeat songs which give an illusion of happiness while you're aimlessly walking along, but Gareth's intelligent lyrics mean that when you decipher the true message you're left as anything but elate. And I really, really enjoy it.

After a three year break, the first hint at new LC! music came in November with the release of 'I Broke Up In Amarante.' I'd just come back to live at home after three years in Paris, felt I'd reverted back to pre-uni depression and the lyrics 'It seems unfair to try your best but feel the worst' really resonated with me.

As we finally waved goodbye to the terrible year that was 2016, Los Campesinos! released the second track from the album: '5 Flucloxacillin.' An ode to our doomed generation who are struggling with medications just to feel something, but who are ultimately still judged by parents for not feeling enough.

'The Fall of Home' was the final track to be released before the album's release date. Ballad-esque in nature, it greatly differs to the previous singles. Gareth sings about those who, having left their home town, find themselves alienated from it when they return.

Enough of the previews, now I can get to the crux of the matter: the album itself. Visually speaking, it is a work of art. Musically speaking, it is beautifully self-deprecating and certainly worth the wait. The band recorded 'Sick Scenes' in Portugal in June during two important events: the UEFA 2016 tournament and the UK referendum. Both negative results are strikingly obvious in the album's sound.

The album opens with 'Renato Dall'Ara (2008)', which I actually first heard in December during a tiny gig at Hackney's Moth Club. With its chanting and catchy chorus, it's a great way to start the album. 'Sad Suppers' is next which sees Gareth claiming he's 'never a miser with the misery.' LC! made me realise it's OK not to be OK all the time, and there's something satisfying in allowing yourself to be miserable (listen to 'Miserabilia' for more on that.) In my humble opinion it is both impossible and uninteresting to be constantly happy.

Following on from 'I Broke Up In Amarante' is 'A Slow, Slow Death', one of my favourite songs on the album. I'm very tempted to get some initials inside a heart tattoo. Then we get 'The Fall of Home' and '5 Flucloxacillin' in quick succession before 'Here's To The Fourth Time!' - a song about that one person you keep going back to, despite knowing the relationship is ultimately doomed.

The album continues with the amusingly titled 'For Whom The Belly Tolls' and then 'Got Stendhal's', another of my favourite songs. In a great interview with The 405 that you can read here, Gareth explains: "I guess this is a love song; it's about being overwhelmed by somebody else, and by being overwhelmed that you find yourself in love. But also being aware that life and love is fickle and that although you may be experiencing happiness it always feels like sadness and disappointment is not very far away."

'Sick Scenes' approaches its conclusion with 'A Litany/Heart Swells'. Swelling hearts is a recurring theme in LC! songs, so it was nice to see it repeated in the new album. This is a song that manages to be beautiful while also referencing a chicken shop, something only Los Campesinos! could do.

LC! albums have a tendency to end on a pretty depressing note (see 'Light Leaves, Dark Sees pt. II' and 'Coda: A Burn Scar In The Shape Of The Sooner State' - which also happens to also be my favourite song.) 'Hung Empty' is somewhat an exception to this rule, it is fast paced and vaguely positive at points, yet the final lyric 'what if this is how we die?' brings us back to reality.

So to conclude this rambling blog post, if you haven't guessed I really enjoy 'Sick Scenes'. This came at no surprise to me, I knew I would. I am looking forward to 1st May, when I get to see some of these new songs played live at London's KOKO (I've had these tickets since mid November...). In the meantime, you should all watch the video for '5 Flucloxacillin', it made my day.