Blog One blink for yes, two blinks for no

It seems improbable that a band like Los Campesinos! (who play Friday at the Rathskeller, with Titus Andronicus) would grow on listeners over time. The Welsh band’s songs charge out fast, twinkling with glockenspiels and friendly-sounding electric guitars, all in a shameless sprawl of ecstatic and/or desperate lyrics. You’re supposed to be either flattened under their charm steamroller or thoroughly irritated that the group put out two albums of the stuff last year, right? Sure, it comes on a little strong for some tastes, but endure that for a few repeat listens and it’s hard to deny how well lead singer Gareth Campesinos and bandmates put together these supposedly chaotic songs.

When I initially put on the first album, Hold On Now Youngster..., my reaction went from charmed and hyper to a little worn-down and irritated by the constant splutter of hooks and urgent-yet-playful lyrics. But then I thought about the times I've somehow ended up watching some bad singer-songwriter trying too hard to deliver cute self-referential lyrics (not too many times, but enough to make me a bit wary). When that happened, it always seemed these people wanted their slightly quirky words to do all the work for the whole song. Los Campesinos!, on the other hand, are incessant and energetic, taking it one step further, to where those eccentric lines get sharper and take a lot more running-out-of-breath conviction, and the force lifts up everything from the boy-girl vocals to the glockenspiels. In other words, the thing that put me off about them at first is the very thing I admire about them now. (That said, the more recent We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed has a little more breathing room for those who'd like to get introduced at a slightly easier speed.) Not bad for a band that sings that "tolerance is more appealing in theory than in practice."