Los Campesinos! - 'We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed' (Wichita) Released 27/10/08

Sometimes it's an achievement to boast about - to be able to release more than one album in a year, to resist the temptation of sitting back and opening the cigars whilst the royalties arrive in their masses. But it's been proven that some things are worsened when rushed; handwriting, Tottenham Hotspur's growth as a bidding football giant, the Pigeon Detectives' second album as a particular example. Musically, good things tend to take time. But when you have a true incentive to move onwards, that may not be the case.

Los Campesinos! perhaps wanted to clean the slate of a dubiously-produced and dubiously-received debut record, to move onwards hastily and to shun away and scepticism towards their ability to support what was an unimaginably huge cloud of hype emerging prior to 'Hold On Now, Youngster'. With their second "record" (members have recently dismissed this to be a proper, official album release), the erratic Welsh troupe have well and truly defied all odds by bettering their debut album with what has now be declared a spur-of-the-moment project.

This is all but confirmed with plenty of time to spare. The opening three tracks of 'We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed' are every bit as thrilling as each other, topping the majority 'Hold On Now' simply because of the feeling that's given off. There's the sound of enthusiasm, the sense that these sounds are fresh and exciting to the band themselves. We get the second-hand effect of that inspiration. A grungy opener in the form of 'Ways To Make It Through To Wall' documents the introduction of a dark-tinged album full of shameful anecdotes and the most extreme cases of self-doubt. Yet this isn't mimicked sound-wise, with a chirpy and traditional sounding guitar line never escapes an outlook of optimism whilst an expectant Gareth declares, "we are waiting here for catastrophe!" This consistent sense of doom and gloom is echoed throughout, particularly so in the following couple of tracks. The lengthy passage of "I cannot emphasise enough that my body is a badly designed, poorly put together vessel harbouring these diminishing, so-called vital organs, hope my heart goes first, I hope my heart goes first!" on the title-track is enough to fuel self-confidence in any listener, regardless of emotional state. Again, there's an ironic contrast musically and the piece is all the more for it.

The jaunty, shaky 'Miserabilia' makes up the third piece of this simple-to-complete jigsaw and from then onwards hints of experimentation overwhelm the melodies and the ideas when the record isn't listened to with eager ears. The album becomes far too soaked up in its own spontaneous thoughts of shame and misery at times, with a couple of exceptions. 'You'll Need Those Fingers For Crossing' disguises a simplistic verse-chorus formation with another stunning offering of lyrical darkness - "You worry a million raindrops will die, with the last memory of you and I, in a soft-porn version of the end of the world", the delicate touch of xylophone and strings make it a heartbreaking tale of, you guessed it, pessimism. 'All Your Keyfabe Friends' supports the view that this record had even more to offer if it was given a year's worth of attention and work. A thrashing crescendo of energy and self-loathing comes to an abrupt end and even though at various points, 'We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed' sounds fatigued, it's a fact that's entirely forgotten about with a quick-fire listen to the more fearless tracks on the album.

The clever thing about this album is that it'll have an effect of swinging those "haters" towards a guilty love of the band, whilst the hardcore fans remain endlessly in love with no distractions. They'll fall weak at the knees for the lines "As if I walked into the room to see my ex-girlfriend, who by the way, I'm still in love with, sucking the face of some pretty boy, with my favourite band's most popular song in the background, is it wrong that I can't decide which bothers me most?", as any music fanatic would.

Doubts will be cast aside in all corners. This is something to rejoice.