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

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band

Los Campesinos! Los Campesinos! are a seven-piece indie pop band from Cardiff, Wales, formed in early 2006 at Cardiff University. The band has seen several lineup changes– lead vocalist Gareth David Paisey and guitarists Neil Turner and Tom Bromley are the o ...

. It was released on 29 October 2013 via Wichita, Turnstile and Heart Swells. The album was produced by John Goodmanson 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.

Composition

Compared to the band's previous album, '' Hello Sadness'' (2011), ''No Blues'' is thematically a more hopeful and optimistic record and a "turning point" for Los Campesinos! according to frontman Gareth David. Speaking with Adam Smith from ''

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'', David said ''No Blues'' was lyrically about as morbid as its precursor, but "a little bit cockier, a little bit cheekier nda little bit more confident."

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 18 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

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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 lyrics written by Gareth Paisey, all music composed by Tom Bromley. # "For Flotsam" – 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

Credits adapted from

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. * Los Campesinos! – arrangements and performing ** Gareth David – writing ** Tom Bromley – producer, brass and string arrangements * Phillip Peterson – strings * Michael Iles –

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* Craig Walker –

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* Cardiff Cougar Allstars Cheerleaders – backing vocals ("Avocado, Baby") * John Goodmanson – producer, mixing * Mazen Murad – mastering

Notes

References

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