Romance Is Boring

Romance Is Boring is the third studio album by indie pop band Los Campesinos!. It was recorded in multiple locations in the United States and Wales and was produced by John Goodmanson.[1] It was released on 26 January 2010 in the United States and on 1 February in the United Kingdom.[2] It features guest appearances from Jamie Stewart of Xiu Xiu, Zac Pennington of Parenthetical Girls, and Jherek Bischoff of The Dead Science.[1] The album was described by frontman Gareth as being about "the death and decay of the human body, sex, lost love, mental breakdown, football and, ultimately, that there probably isn’t a light at the end of the tunnel". It is the band's final release to feature vocalist and keyboardist Aleksandra Campesinos!, who amicably left the band in August 2009, after the album had been recorded.

Romance Is Boring
Studio album by
Los Campesinos!
Released26 January 2010 (2010-01-26)
RecordedMarch–June 2009 at Carriage House Studios, Stamford, Connecticut; Two Sticks Audio, Seattle
GenreIndie pop, indie rock, noise pop
Length48:22
LabelWichita, Arts & Crafts
ProducerJohn Goodmanson
Los Campesinos! chronology
We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed
(2008)		 Romance Is Boring
(2010)		 All's Well That Ends
(2010)
Singles from Romance Is Boring
  1. "The Sea Is A Good Place To Think Of The Future"
    Released: 2 September 2009 (promotional)
  2. "There Are Listed Buildings"
    Released: 2 November 2009
  3. "Romance Is Boring"
    Released: 15 February 2010

Vulture.com described the album as the band's "most divisive." The song "The Sea is a Good Place to Think of the Future" established the band's place as arbiters of the emo genre.[3]

Album sound and influences

The album generally stays true to the band's original indie pop genre. However, they were also applauded for greatly expanding their sound. When speaking of the album's influences, guitarist Tom Campesinos! cited Pavement, Guided by Voices, Blur and Modest Mouse as major influences upon the album.[4] Gareth Campesinos! cites novelist B. S. Johnson as an influence and references some of his work in the lyrics on the album.

Reception
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic75[5]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[6]
Chart[7]
Clash(8/10)[8]
Consequence of Sound[9]
Drowned in Sound(8/10)[10]
NME(8/10)[11]
Pitchfork Media(8.3/10)[12]
PopMatters(9/10)[13]
Spin[14]
Under the Radar(7/10)[15]

Initial critical response was generally positive. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an average score of 75, based on 24 reviews.[5] British music magazine NME gave the album a positive 8/10 review, naming it "a significant step forward", in comparison to previous material.[16] However, other reviews were less than positive, fellow British music magazine Uncut stated that "the band have beefed up their sound, at the expense of their spindly charm."[5]

Track listing

All lyrics are written by Gareth Campesinos! (apart from tracks four and eleven by Aleks Campesinos! and Gareth Campesinos!); all music is composed by Tom Campesinos!, all string arrangements by Harriet and Tom Campesinos!.

No.TitleLength
1."In Medias Res"4:42
2."There Are Listed Buildings"2:54
3."Romance Is Boring"2:35
4."We've Got Your Back (Documented Minor Emotional Breakdown #2)"4:29
5."Plan A"2:02
6."200-102"0:53
7."Straight in at 101"3:55
8."Who Fell Asleep In"4:11
9."I Warned You: Do Not Make an Enemy of Me"2:47
10."Heart Swells/100-1"0:46
11."I Just Sighed. I Just Sighed, Just So You Know"4:38
12."A Heat Rash in the Shape of the Show Me State; or, Letters from Me to Charlotte"3:43
13."The Sea Is a Good Place to Think of the Future"4:24
14."This Is a Flag. There Is No Wind"3:28
15."Coda: A Burn Scar in the Shape of the Sooner State"2:52
Total length:48:22
iTunes bonus track & Japan bonus track
No.TitleLength
16."Too Many Flesh Suppers"4:49
Total length:53:18

Personnel
  • Aleksandra Campesinos! – lead vocals, keyboard
  • Ellen Campesinos! – bass guitar, backing vocals
  • Gareth Campesinos! – lead vocals, glockenspiel
  • Harriet Campesinos! – violin, keyboard
  • Neil Campesinos! – guitar, backing vocals
  • Ollie Campesinos! – drums
  • Tom Campesinos! – lead guitar, backing vocals
  • Kim Campesinos! – shruti box, piccolo
  • Zac Pennington – backing vocals
  • Jamie Stewart – vocals
  • Eric Corson – vocals, engineering
  • Jherek Bischoff – vocals, trombone, double bass
  • Izaak Mills – saxophone, flute
  • Samantha Boshnack – trumpet, flugel horn
  • John Goodmanson – production, recording, mixing
  • Guy Davie – mastering

Charts
Charts (2010) Peak
position
UK Albums Chart 92
US Top Heatseekers 3[17]
US Top Independent 28[17]

Release history
Date Country Label (Cat#)
26 January 2010 (2010-01-26) United States/Canada Arts & Crafts (A&C050)
1 February 2010 (2010-02-01) United Kingdom Wichita Recordings (WEBB239)
3 February 2010 (2010-02-03) Japan Hostess Entertainment

References
  1. "Los Campesinos! on Recording Romance Is Boring". EQ Magazine. 26 October 2009. Archived from the original on 22 November 2010. Retrieved 17 December 2009.
  2. "Los Campesinos! announce new LP". Pitchfork Media. 26 October 2009. Retrieved 17 December 2009.
  3. Ian Cohen; David Anthony; Nina Corcoran; Emma Garland; Brad Nelson (13 February 2020). "The 100 Greatest Emo Songs of All Time". Vulture.com. Vox Media. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
  4. "Los Campesinos! :: The 12 Records that Influenced Romance Is Boring".
  5. "Los Campesinos!:Romance Is Boring (2010):Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 18 February 2010.
  6. Sendra, Tim. "Los Campesinos! - Romance Is Boring review". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
  7. Bryson, Scott (28 January 2010). "Chart review". Chartattack.com. Retrieved 17 August 2011.
  8. Hollowday, Anne (22 January 2010). "Clash review". Clashmusic.com. Retrieved 17 August 2011.
  9. Mandich, Bob (1 February 2010). "Consequence of Sound review". Consequenceofsound.net. Retrieved 17 August 2011.
  10. Jay, Simon (25 January 2010). "Drowned in Sound review". Drownedinsound.com. Retrieved 17 August 2011.
  11. "NME review". Nme.com. 1 February 2010. Retrieved 17 August 2011.
  12. "Pitchfork Media review". Pitchfork.com. 1 February 2010. Retrieved 17 August 2011.
  13. Sargent, Jordan. "PopMatters review". Popmatters.com. Retrieved 17 August 2011.
  14. Modell, Josh. "Spin review". Spin.com. Retrieved 17 August 2011.
  15. Rytlewski, Evan. "Under the Radar review". Undertheradarmag.com. Retrieved 17 August 2011.
  16. "Album review: Los Campesinos! - 'Romance Is Boring". NME.
  17. https://www.billboard.com/music/los-campesinos!/chart-history/
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