Romance is Boring
Wichita Recordings**

The cover of Los Campesinos!'s third album should tell you all you need to know about the seven-strong indiepop troupe. Did that trickle of blood rolling down a bare leg come to pass through mischief, or was it a clumsy accident? The career of the young Cardiff band seems to have steered a course through both. Their rambunctious songs and amusing tongue-in-cheek lyrics sometimes sound designed to appeal solely to roguish teens, yet there's a current of solemnity through such tunes as The Sea Is a Good Place. . . that suggests a newfound maturity. That said, there's simply not enough music variation to make this a well- rounded album. Up-tempo boy-girl duets with breezy choruses and sputters of glockenspiel are all well and good, but 15 of them is just, well, boring. www.loscampesinos. com

Download tracks: Romance Is Boring, There Are Listed Buildings