Being a music fan used to be much simpler when I was younger. Back then, I saw the world in delicately nuanced shades of Black or White. But with age comes a sort of wisdom, which in turn just seems to make life much more complicated. Take, for example, Cardiff-based indie kids Los Campesinos! who are due to land in San Francisco for the first time on November 28, 2007. Seven members strong, they burst onstage with a youthful, infectious energy that is hard not to love. But they also carry with them the unmistakeable whiff of twee, which troubles me.
Over the years, I have developed a strange, contradictory relationship with this fey branch of indie rock. Occasionally, it produces glorious moments of shimmering pop that cause me to fall in love with music all over again. Which is all the more surprising when I find the vast majority of the twee tribes to be an irritating, self-absorbed, weirdly conservative bunch of cardigan abusers.
But, instead of pretending that this side of Los Campesinos! doesn’t really exist, or that I don’t have a problem with twee after all, I have decided to face my fears like a grown-up should. Are they really twee and, if so, is this such a bad thing?
Twee sign one: Boy-girl harmonies
Any twee band worth their salt should feature mixed-gender singing. Ideally neither voice should be particularly strong or tuneful: the boy errs towards weak and yelpy, while the girl turns up the bubblegum sweetness while simultaneously channeling the spirit of Moe Tucker. Los Campesinos! lead vocalist Gareth and back-up singer Aleks fit this classic template perfectly, but both also have enough moxie in their voices to avoid the limp, lisping, tuneless excesses of twee pop past. In fact, Aleks’ voice is really rather nice.
Twee sign two: Being indie
Of course, releasing your first record on small-format vinyl via an indie label doesn’t in itself make you twee, but it definitely helps. LC have done it twice: first in the UK with their debut seven-inch single “We Throw Parties, You Throw Knives” on Wichita Recordings, then in North American by re-releasing their first two UK singles as a six-song EP called “Sticking Fingers into Sockets” on Canadian indie label Arts&Crafts, available, naturally enough, on 10-inch vinyl. But quirky releases are fun, and one thing twee bands can’t be faulted for is keeping the punk tradition of DIY mail-order-only singles with hand-printed sleeves alive and well.