Hold On Now, Youngster... difficult to follow? As if it 2008 wasn't Los Campesinos' year already, they took the almost unprecedented move of going ahead and doing just that, inside eight months. Oh sure, they may try to claim that wab,wad isn't an album, but as well as the previously noted fact that at 32:18 it's not even the shortest on this list, it's way too complete and fantastic for that to fly.
Besides, one of the very minor weaknesses of the actual debut that I carefully avoided mentioning in the previous post was that even 42 minutes was just a touch too long for their huge instant appeal to stretch over in one go. Those who complained that it was all a bit too much to takeor all sounded a bit too similar... well I can understand even if not agree. So a newly trim length and associated total lack of a wasted moment help to ensure that their second is the better (even better!) of the two.
Apart from that it was largely a case of the same again, done every bit as successfully. There was an increased melancholy egde (culminating in that title track and 'my body is a badly designed, poorly put together vessel/Harbouring these diminishing so called vital organs/I hope my heart goes first/I HOPE MY HEART GOES FIRST!') and a slightly less hectic, further developed musical sensibility. Hence the queazy strings of "You'll Need Those Fingers for Crossing" and harmonic backing vocals and hints of actual open spaces in "Documented Minor Emotional Breakdown #1", although needless to say there were still moments of fleeting glee like "The End of the Asterisk" and crazily fun finale "All Your Kayfabe Friends", Tony Cascarino references and cliff dropping ending and all.
And all that clearly still wasn't enough, as they carried through on their fanzine inclinations to give it the best packagaing of the year. Woo.
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