Los Campesinos! - Romance Is Boring

If you come to Romance Is Boring with too many preconceptions about Los Campesinos!, please leave them at the door: this album may not be what you expect. Of course, the signs of a rejuvenated Campesinos! were there, if you were looking. Last year's mini album We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed debuted a firmer, harder sound, the giddy sugar rush of "You! Me! Dancing!"metabolized into nervous adrenaline and lyrics spiked with jealousy, angst and paranoia. But Romance Is Boring feels like a band that's - well, not so much grown up - let's say "fully realized." Produced by John Goodmanson (Sleater-Kinney, Bikini Kill, Wu-Tang Clan), it's a record that's bigger, deeper, more complex and more direct than anything Los Campesinos! has recorded to date. Romance Is Boring is filled out with added brass, strings, drum machines and electronics, packed with guest spots from the likes of Jamie Stewart of Xiu Xiu, Zac Pennington of Parenthetical Girls and Jherek Bischoff of the Dead Science, it is nothing if not ambitious.