🐀 kms - Listen Now!

Kim takes lead on the final single before the release of All Hell. PLUS new pre-order deals, LC!24 Tour Shirts and the usual nattering.

Surprise! We thought we’d treat you to one last single before the release of All Hell. Introducing kms. We played this song every night on the US tour, and it was an instant hit, so here it is in its full studio glory.

Grace Robins-Somerville writes on kms: “Gareth begged for “the trust of every animal” on Feast of Tongues. On All Hell’s fourth and final single — a miserable ballad aptly titled kms — he takes a step back into a supporting role, while Kim sings lead and offers to “lay down [her] life for any rat in the road.” 

kms is one of the record’s most pensive moments, with Kim’s soft, sorrowful vocals over the sleepily strummed intro painting us a picture of a “food court fountain bubbling in a ghost arcade”—a perfect visual metaphor for the haunting quality of untapped potential and the dangers of getting pulled into the sinkhole of nostalgia. “Some golden oldies radio plays your first kiss / binbag blackout your landlord pinned for curtains,” Kim sings, mourning the better days behind her while clinging to the pieces of them that remain, fitting awkwardly into the more unsavoury aspects of the present. The slow burning depressiveness of kms feels like the late afternoon realisation that you’ve wasted the day wallowing, and feeling the weight of that regret only paralyzes you further; as Gareth yelps out over power chords at the bridge, “second serving, sophomore slump / so-called ‘cause you suffer more.” It’s a brief flash of crying out, if only just to put a name to one’s misery, before the track gets quiet again, sinking back down into understated despair. 

Tom says: “kms was the last track we wrote for the album, in January this year. Having spent a few years working on the other songs, I wanted something a little looser and less refined to balance out the latter part of the record. I made a quick demo, G wrote lyrics the next day and we recorded it the next week with my friend Gareth Bodman in Cardiff. I ended up using my demo guitars while the rest of the band sent over their parts via email. The drums we recorded at the studio ended up being our favourite sounding on the album, and, thanks to Kim’s perfect performance, the track quickly became one of our favourites. No idea why something we put together so quickly came out so well, but it really elevated the album overall so I’m glad we made the effort to squeeze one more song out”

Gareth says: “Documented Minor Emotional Breakdown #6”

To mark the release of kms (and let’s face it, to celebrate everyone’s favourite member of Los Campesinos!, Kim) we’ve added a new shirt to the store. Grab it on its own, or as part of a pre-order bundle, now.

The track goes live on streaming services at midnight. If you love it, please share it with your friends, add it to playlists, get hype about it, you know the deal!

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18 Days until All Hell Breaks Loose

I cannot believe that it’s nearly time for All Hell. Without always knowing it, we’ve been waiting 7 years for that moment, and for it to now be so close seems impossible. So close even that the physical albums exist! Look! 19th July can’t come soon enough!

Loads of you have already pre-ordered the album, and we are incredibly grateful for that. I’m reluctant to get carried away, but this is somehow looking likely to be our best selling record ever. Real possibilities of charting in the UK Top 40 for the first time, so if you have the means to pre-order the record, in any format, please do. Been meaning to mention, if you grab a digital version of the album on Bandcamp, for as little as £7, you get immediate download of the singles (including kms)!

In case you need further persuading…

• We’ll soon have details of the ‘Live at Troxy’ documentary on-line premiere, which everyone who’s pre-ordered will be invited to live-stream, along with the band.

• If you pre-order from our store (including those of you who have done so already) you’ll be entered into a draw to win a pair of tickets to a UK show of your choice, PLUS you’ll get to meet us in soundcheck, and get your hands on a signed, personalised setlist.

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Thank You for Joining us on Tour!

At the end of another tour, we are more full of gratitude and pride than ever. I said it onstage most nights but to have been a band for 18 years and to now be playing our biggest ever shows to such a diverse and passionate crowd, is more than we could ever have dreamt. Every night is a celebration of our friendship, and the connection we have with you all. Those rooms were full of love and community. It’s Mortal Joy. Thank you to every single one of you that attended, we will never take it for granted 🥲

Thanks also to Fresh and Short Fictions who were the most perfect touring partners ❤️They played to a full room every night and put on show-stealing sets (nearly 😉). Please support them like you do us.

Thank you to our amazing crew of Joe, Ratters, Jarab, Mel and Lois. They work so hard to ensure we can put on a great show, and most of their work goes unnoticed, but never unappreciated.

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Last Few USA Tour Shirts Available

This must be one of our most popular shirt designs ever! We sold 1,000 of these on the US tour, but are aware that some nights we were missing the size you wanted/the queue was too long to pick one up. So we’ve made another 200 available to buy on our US webstore. If you want the shirt and haven’t bought All Hell yet, go on, get it in a bundle!

(Sorry this one’s North America store only, just feels a bit wrong selling a US tour shirt in the UK)

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Matt Makes His NTS Debut

We’re super proud of Matt for making his NTS debut, under his Temple alias.

Matt says: “In the midst of our US tour last month, I was extremely excited to make my NTS Radio debut, with a guest mix as part of their Songs of Praise special – a series taking a closer look at religious and spiritual music from around the globe.

My contribution, Sacred Music in the Circuits, takes a deep dive into the use of sacred music in videogames: soundtracks inspired by Gregorian chant, Shinto music or Gamelan, spanning everything from classic titles like Final Fantasy, Legend of Zelda and Castlevania to new(er) indie titles”.

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• Our next show is at 2000 Trees Festival on Thursday next week. Last tickets are available now, to see the live UK debut of songs from All Hell, and a ton of other great bands too I guess.

• Sick Scenes vinyl is now available in North America, in a special Sick Cornetto, pink in pink, colourway. You can buy it direct from Wichita Recordings, or see a full list of record stores stocking the LP here. UK version on boring classic black vinyl available here.

• We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed is Vinyl Me Please’s Rock Record of the Month for July. Available in an exclusive pressing, with new listening notes, get all the VMP info here.

  

• Ceres have dropped another great pair of songs, once again produced by our very own Tom.

• Following the high of the US shows, we’re so excited for September’s Mortal Joy Tour. These will be the first live shows of the All Hell era and we’re so looking forward to putting together a perfect setlist of new and old. There are less than 10 tickets available for the Sheffield and Birmingham shows. They’ll sell out today, and Manchester will be gone within the week. Tickets here.

We’ve got so much good stuff to come in the build-up to All Hell, let alone the album itself. Plenty more surprises to look forward to, but if there’s anything in particular you want to see written about in the next newsletter then hit us up in the comments!

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Speak soon. LC! x