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. It was released on 26 January 2010 in the United States and on 1 February in the United Kingdom. It features guest appearances from Jamie Stewart of Xiu Xiu, Zac Pennington of Parenthetical Girls, and Jherek Bischoff of The Dead Science. 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), as well as drummer Ollie Campesinos!. Vulture.com described the album as the band's "most divisive." A remastered 10th anniversary edition was released on 14 February 2020. 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. Gareth Campesinos! cites novelist B. S. Johnson as an influence and references some of his work in the lyrics on the album. Reception. 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. British music magazine NME gave the album a positive 8/10 review, naming it "a significant step forward", in comparison to previous  material. 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."