I think the exclamation point is pronounced “chk”?
[Video][Website]
[6.00]
Anthony Easton: This is bratty and absurd enough to be American, but self-loathing enough to be English. So, I was kind of confused about it; it couldn’t be either, and I could not quite place the accent. They are Welsh, which makes sense. Second best vegetable anthem out of Wales too, besides the Super Furry Animals.
[7]
Juana Giaimo: Los Campesinos! have been doing more or less the same indie pop music since they’ve been together, but they can somehow always manage to sound fresh. I had to listen to this song several times to try to understand if it was an outstanding step that shows once again their creative potential or if they are simply trying too hard (the kids’ vocals were kind of unnecessary). I’m still not entirely sure, but the tragicomic lyrics have some clever lines that should be acknowledged. Who else could have written a song called “Avocado, Baby”?
[7]
Cédric Le Merrer: I really loved Los Campesinos! for what seemed like a week when they released a great album full of twitchy, jumpy indie pop that felt like a dance class for nail biters. But then they kept putting out record after record of dark frustrated pop, like your friend who was entertainingly neurotic and then went through a bad breakup and became a joy-sucking black hole and you really feel guilty about not being able to help them but, gosh, you’d try and they’re just toxic. Still every once in a while they come out with another invitation or you meet them at someone’s housewarming party, and at first you remember how they’re doing the frustrated thing quite well but they’re all pre-chorus and no release and your metaphor is broken now but so are they, and, bad as it is, that’s another metaphor to latch on to, maybe? Clearly someone here is using too many words and too many metaphors to say something very simple, and that’s tiring too.
[4]
Alfred Soto: Tempo changes, drum solos, children’s choir — they sure take the exclamation point seriously. Their music needs semicolons though.
[6]
Brad Shoup: Not big on the part that sounds like Bright Eyes, but I do like the shouty bit that sounds like the Rapture. More cheers from people who clearly were never cheerleaders, please.
[5]
Daniel Montesinos-Donaghy: There’s an oo-de-lally bounce to the rhythm section here, peeking out from under some traditionally twitchy Campesinosity. Slivers of disco groove tease that something will surely explode, and then it happens: a sparky chorus that bursts out past the word-drunk verses. It’s a moment of gleeful pop nous around distracted songwriting, a brief moment where you can breathe easy and let the mind go. Not that “Avocado Baby” is bad — it most certainly isn’t, but playing Idea Jenga isn’t always the right route to the pleasure centre.
[7]
Iain Mew: You can make a case, as Alex did, for the stone heart metaphor of the chorus being “literally the most Gareth lyric of all time.” Getting in cheerleaders to repeat it and emphasise its catchiness is definitely a step further into mocking celebration even for a group who run on that mode a lot of the time. My favourite lines come in the first verse set up though. Returning to a theme from the amazing “Straight in at 101,” Gareth is once again viewing his life in terms of TV show failures. This time he’s at least made it on-screen, but as a game show host dealing with troublesome celebrities who are “just cracking jokes for views” before the twist with voice cracking slightly — “but the answers to these questions mean everything.” The best Los Campesinos! songs exist on a knife edge of heightened emotion, ready to plunge in any direction at any moment, and that line is a great example of it. Together with the inventive brightness of the music, it’s a happy return to top tragicomedy after the tragitragedy of much of Hello Sadness.
[9]
Crystal Leww: For longtime Los Campesinos! fans, “Avocado, Baby” comes as maybe a little bit of a surprise, but maybe not, since every album has sounded in someway different than the last. Some of the motifs are the same: the image of Doe Eyes, the tendency of Gareth to ramble then break out into shouts, a fascination with figures on TV, and churning guitars. A lot of things are completely different, the use of a shouting cheerleader chorus being the most obvious example. The band’s almost completely abandoned the dual male and female vocalist approach with Kim filling background and sometimes peeking out into a more prominent role like on the hook. The lyrics are cloaked in a metaphor, a lot less concerned with being clever and coy but, in a way, a lot less emotionally gut wrenching, too. This is not the same band that I fell in love with over four years ago, but I’m not the same person that I was four years ago either. Their earlier albums corresponded to a very specific part of my life where every boy I ever dated was found in a song on Romance is Boring. My gut doesn’t fall out of my stomach when listening to “Avocado, Baby”, but it doesn’t mean that I’m not going to go nuts when I hear the squealing synths and this hook live. And maybe it’s a good thing that neither G nor I have stayed the same over the course of four years.
[7]
Tara Hillegeist: I guess my rind’s just tougher than yours, sir.
[2]