We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed

We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed
Studio album by
Los Campesinos!
Released 27 October 2008
Recorded 12–23 June 2008
Studio Avast Recording Co., Seattle
Electrokitty, Seattle
Stars and Sons, Toronto
Genre Indie rock, indie pop, noise pop
Length 32:10
Label Wichita, Arts & Crafts
Producer John Goodmanson
Los Campesinos! chronology
Hold on Now, Youngster...
(2008) 		We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed
(2008) 		Romance Is Boring
(2010)

We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed is the second studio album by Welsh indie pop band Los Campesinos!. It was released on 27 October 2008 via Wichita. Recorded over 11 days in June 2008 with John Goodmanson in Seattle, the record was released with no singles, just 33 weeks after their debut album, Hold on Now, Youngster... (from February 2008). The album's title was taken from a review of the band by Kieron Gillen, with lyrics from the first track being inspired from his comic Phonogram.

The album was met with universal acclaim due to its musical cohesiveness and exploration into noise pop. Its song "Miserabilia" was named the 94th best song of 2008 by Rolling Stone.

Release

In February 2008, Los Campesinos! released their debut studio album, Hold on Now, Youngster..., which debuted at number 72 on the UK Albums Chart. In August 2008, they announced the release of their second album and its track listing. Frontman Gareth Paisey reassured listeners of the record's quality despite its unusually quick turnaround, posting to the band's blog: "This is no post-album cash-in...it’s ten all-new tracks that none of you have ever heard before".

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic
Christgau's Consumer Guide B+
Drowned in Sound 7/10
Entertainment Weekly A
NME
Pitchfork 8.3/10
Rolling Stone
Spin

Initial critical response was very positive. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album was met with universal acclaim, receiving an average score of 82, based on 22 reviews.

Almost all critics agreed the album was superior to their debut from early 2008, Hold on Now, Youngster.... Writing for NME, Louis Pattison concluded: "Cooked up in a session originally meant to spawn a batch of B-sides, We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed instead debuts 10 songs that outstrip LC!’s debut album at every turn". For AllMusic, Tim Sendra claimed the record "has more depth and feeling". He said that earlier fans "may be initially put off by the emotion and desperation on display [but] they need to give the record a chance to take hold ... it grabs you by the throat and the heart, and doesn't let go".

Track listing

All tracks written by Gareth Paisey and Tom Bromley, except "Heart Swells/Pacific Daylight Time" co-written by Neil Turner and Zac Pennington.

  1. "Ways to Make It Through the Wall" – 4:12
  2. "Miserabilia" – 3:15
  3. "We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed" – 3:54
  4. "Between an Erupting Earth and an Exploding Sky" – 1:16
  5. "You'll Need Those Fingers for Crossing" – 5:09
  6. "It's Never That Easy Though, Is It? (Song for the Other Kurt)" – 2:21
  7. "The End of the Asterisk" – 1:52
  8. "Documented Minor Emotional Breakdown #1" – 4:27
  9. "Heart Swells/Pacific Daylight Time" – 2:37
  10. "All Your Kayfabe Friends" – 3:15

Personnel

  • Aleksandra Berditchevskaia – vocals, keyboard
  • Ellen Waddell – bass guitar
  • Gareth Paisey – vocals, glockenspiel
  • Harriet Coleman – violin, keyboard
  • Neil Turner – guitar
  • Ollie Briggs – drums
  • Tom Bromley – lead guitar
  • John Goodmanson – production, recording, mixing
  • Jim Anderson – engineering

Charts

Chart (2008) Peak
position
US Top Heatseekers 43

Release history

The CD version was released with an accompanying DVD featuring a short documentary of the band during their 2008 tour, as well as a 32-page booklet which, in addition to liner notes and lyrics, also includes drawings and poems from Jason Lytle of Grandaddy, Jamie Stewart of Xiu Xiu, Zac Pennington of Parenthetical Girls, Brent Knopf of Menomena and Ramona Falls, and Paul Heaton of The Housemartins and The Beautiful South, among others.

Date Country Label (Cat#)
27 October 2008 United Kingdom Wichita Recordings (WEBB187)
25 November 2008 United States/Canada Arts & Crafts (A&C037)