A certain strain of British culture devotes itself to the cute—c.f. tea cozies, ending text messages with multiple x's—and Cardiff-converged naïfs take up that yellow polka-dotted mantle. Innocence is regained on the EP: talk of dressing up like a pirate and deploring math homework is not history; it's current affairs. The mixed-sex duets, in which boy meets girl, vocally, up the sweetness ante. Simple solos multiply the charm. And I'm pretty sure they exaggerate their British accents for kitsch effect. Lyrically at least, they are competitive: against the immortal Pavement line 'I've got style for miles and miles,' the Campesinos lyrical take on Lesley Gore (“it's your party but I'll die if I want to”) holds its own. This selfsame cover of my favorite Pavement song, which they sandwich with their own material, is speedily executed. As is much of the material on the EP. These songs rollick along, bolstered by the effervescent effect of the glockenspiel and pizzicato and chatter about cherry aid. Peppy to a fault, sometimes sped up to breakneck speeds, nearly screechily hectic, the tracks always settle back down into pop. Chalk it up to youthful exuberance.
