''No Blues'' is the fifth studio album by Welsh

indie rock Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produc ...

band

Los Campesinos! Los Campesinos! are a seven-piece indie pop band from Cardiff, Wales, formed in early 2006 at Cardiff University. Though the band formed in Wales, none of the members are Welsh people, Welsh. The band has gone through several lineup changes dur ...

. It was released on 29 October 2013 via

Wichita Recordings Wichita Recordings is an independent record label located in London, founded in 2000 by Mark Bowen and Dick Green. Its most notable signees include Bloc Party, The Cribs, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Bright Eyes, My Morning Jacket, Yeah Yeah Ye ...

, Turnstile and Heart Swells. The album was produced by

John Goodmanson John Goodmanson (born 1968) is an American recording engineer and indie rock record producer. He is best known for producing multiple albums by Bikini Kill, Blonde Redhead, Death Cab for Cutie, Los Campesinos!, and Sleater-Kinney. Selected di ...

and guitarist Tom Bromley, and is the first to not feature founding bassist Ellen Waddell, who amicably left the group in late 2012. The first single, "What Death Leaves Behind", was released as a free download on the band's

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page on 29 August 2013. The second single, "Avocado, Baby", was released on 8 October 2013.

Critical reception

Critical response was positive. At

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, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an

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score of 79, based on 17 reviews. Writing for ''

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'', Ian Cohen said ''No Blues'' "ends up sounding like the happiest os Campesinos!record, or at least the most implicitly hopeful". He claimed the band "have never sounded so muscular or crafted

melodies A melody (from Greek μελῳδία, ''melōidía'', "singing, chanting"), also tune, voice or line, is a linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most literal sense, a melody is a combinati ...

as instantly memorable". Chris Tapley of ''

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'' praised the album's production, in which the band "no longer assert themselves as the most important aspect of the tracks". He called "Selling Rope (Swan Dive to Estuary)" their best closing track and concluded: "No longer a band rough and ready jumping breathlessly between ideas, they are burying their chaos under smooth edges and verdant melodies and it sounds better than ever".

Accolades

Track listing

All songs written by Gareth Paisey. # "For Floatsam" – 3:43 # "What Death Leaves Behind" – 3:37 # "A Portrait of the Trequartista as a Young Man" – 3:01 # "Cemetery Gaits" – 4:52 # "Glue Me" – 5:04 # "As Lucerne/The Low" – 4:22 # "Avocado, Baby" – 4:36 # "Let It Spill" – 3:20 # "The Time Before the Last Time" – 2:47 # "Selling Rope (Swan Dive to Estuary)" – 6:17

Personnel

Musicians * Los Campesinos!, notably: ** Gareth Paisey – writing, vocals ** Tom Bromley – guitar, brass arrangements, string arrangements * Michael Iles – trumpet * Craig Walker – trombone * Phillip Peterson – strings * Cardiff Cougar Allstars Cheerleaders – vocals Technical * Tom Bromley – producing * John Goodmanson – producing, mixing * Mazen Murad – mastering Promotional * Michael Barrow – photography * Rob Taylor – art direction, album design

References

{{Authority control 2013 albums Los Campesinos! albums Wichita Recordings albums