No Blues (Los Campesinos! album) explained

No Blues
Type:	studio
Artist:	Los Campesinos!
Cover:	Los Campesinos! - No Blues.jpg
Released:	29 October 2013
Recorded:	2013
Studio:	Bryn Derwen, Bethesda
Genre:	Indie rock indie pop
Length:	41:39
Label:	Wichita Turnstile Music Heart Swells
Producer:	John Goodmanson Tom Bromley
Prev Title:	Hello Sadness
Prev Year:	2011
Next Title:	A Los Campesinos! Christmas
Next Year:	2014

No Blues is the fifth studio album by Welsh indie rock band Los Campesinos!. It was released on 29 October 2013 via Wichita, Turnstile and Heart Swells.^[1] 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 SoundCloud page on 29 August 2013.^[2] The second single, "Avocado, Baby", was released on 8 October 2013.^[3]

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.^[4] Speaking with Adam Smith from Interview, David said No Blues was lyrically about as morbid as its precursor, but "a little bit cockier, a little bit cheekier [and] a little bit more confident."^[5]

Critical reception

Critical response was positive. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an average score of 79, based on 18 reviews.

Writing for Pitchfork, Ian Cohen said No Blues "ends up sounding like the happiest [Los Campesinos!] record, or at least the most implicitly hopeful". He claimed the band "have never sounded so muscular or crafted melodies as instantly memorable". Chris Tapley of The Line of Best Fit 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

Publication! scope="col"

Accolade	Rank
The A.V. Club	23 Best Albums of 2013	18	^[6]
Drowned in Sound	Favourite Albums of 2013	14	^[7]
MusicOMH	Top 100 Albums of 2013	72	^[8]
PopMatters	75 Best Albums of 2013	49	^[9]
	Best Indie Rock Albums of 2013	4	^[10]

Track listing

All lyrics written by Gareth Paisey, all music composed by Tom Bromley.

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

Personnel

Credits adapted from liner notes.

• Los Campesinos! – arrangements and performing
  • Gareth David – writing
  • Tom Bromley – producer, brass and string arrangements
• Phillip Peterson – strings
• Michael Iles – trumpet
• Craig Walker – trombone
• Cardiff Cougar Allstars Cheerleaders – backing vocals ("Avocado, Baby")
• John Goodmanson – producer, mixing
• Mazen Murad – mastering

Notes and References

1. Web site: Battan . Carrie . 2013-08-29 . Los Campesinos! Announce New Album No Blues, Share Song "What Death Leaves Behind" . 2013-10-09 . Pitchfork Media.
2. Web site: What Death Leaves Behind by Los Campesinos! on SoundCloud - Hear the world's sounds. Los Campesinos!. SoundCloud. 7 October 2013.
3. Los Campesinos! Celebrate the 'Avocado, Baby' on Upbeat Single. Chris. Martins. Spin. 2013-10-08. 2013-10-09.
4. Web site: Simon . Scott . 26 October 2013 . Los Campesinos! Lighten Up With 'No Blues' . 3 August 2024 . NPR.
5. Web site: Smith . Adam D . 29 October 2013 . Los Campesinos!, On Pitch . 3 August 2024 . Interview.
6. Web site: Ryan . Kyle . 5 December 2013 . The 23 best albums of 2013 . 18 June 2023 . . en.
7. Web site: Adams . Sean . 9 December 2013 . Drowned in Sound's Favourite Albums of 2013: Top 20 . 18 June 2023 . . en . 12 October 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20191012075212/http://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4147268-drowned-in-sounds-favourite-albums-of-2013--top-20 . dead .
8. Web site: 9 December 2013 . musicOMH's Top 100 Albums Of 2013: Full List and Playlist Lists . 18 June 2023 . . en-GB.
9. Web site: 3 January 2014 . The 75 Best Albums of 2013 . 18 June 2023 . . en-US.
10. Web site: 1 January 2014 . PopMatters' Best Indie Rock Albums of 2013 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20170927041312/http://www.popmatters.com/feature/176830-the-best-indie-rock-of-2013/ . 27 September 2017 . 18 June 2023 . PopMatters .