Los Campesinos!: We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed (anniversary repress, indie exclusive) [ARTS & CRAFTS]

Why you'll love it

An indie exclusive anniversary repress of the Welsh band's second album, made just 33 weeks after their debut. Rolling Stone named "Miserabilia" one of the best songs of 2008, and the record came out to universal acclaim.

This edition

• Indie exclusive
• Anniversary repress
• Ten tracks across two sides, from "Ways To Make It Through The Wall" to "All Your Kayfabe Friends"

About the album

Los Campesinos! followed their debut, Hold On Now, Youngster..., barely eight months later, which usually spells trouble. Instead We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed turned out sharper and noisier than the first record. They made it in eleven days in Seattle in June 2008 with John Goodmanson, put it out that October with no singles at all, and took the title from a review of the band by comics writer Kieron Gillen.

Gareth Paisey's lyrics are funny, sad and full of tiny details, the guitars and glockenspiel crash into each other, and "Miserabilia", the title track and "Documented Minor Emotional Breakdown #1" sound as giddy now as they did then. Part of "(Song For The Other Kurt)" was even recorded in Toronto. It's indie pop with its heart flung wide open. Beautiful, doomed and, on the evidence, still selling.

Tracklist

Listen

On Arts & Crafts, a reissue of the 2008 album.