Los Campesinos! We are Beautiful, We Are Doomed
Released Nov 25, 2008 Arts & Crafts
Established consensus 25 professional reviews Updated Oct 15, 2026
Broadly positive consensus
Los Campesinos!'s We are Beautiful, We Are Doomed turns romantic bitterness into a bright, breathless rush, and critics largely agree that its jagged energy and sharp songwriting make it a compelling follow-up.
How ChoruScore worksCritics' Top Tracks
The songs critics returned to most
Ways To Make It Through the Wall
7 critic mentions
“the record opens with frontman Gareth musing "I think it’s fair to say that I chose hopelessness / and inflicted it on the rest of us.” — Paste Magazine
We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed
6 critic mentions
“Come the third song, the title track, he’s already vomited in a Mexican restaurant, vomited by a football pitch, promised to break someone’s teeth” — New Musical Express (NME)
You'll Need Those Fingers For Crossing
3 critic mentions
“and leads directly into the motorik-locked melancholia of "You'll Need Those Fingers for Crossing” — Pitchfork
Full critic consensus
Los Campesinos!'s We are Beautiful, We Are Doomed turns romantic bitterness into a bright, breathless rush, and critics largely agree that its jagged energy and sharp songwriting make it a compelling follow-up. Across 25 professional reviews, the album earns a 79.76/100 consensus score, with praise centered on its knack for setting witty, self-lacerating lyrics against exuberant indie-pop melodies.
The best songs on We are Beautiful, We Are Doomed capture that tension vividly. “Ways To Make It Through the Wall” repeatedly stands out for its explosive hooks, while the title track transforms anger and confession into an anthem. Critics also praise “You'll Need Those Fingers For Crossing” for its melodic, violin-bright melancholy and “Heart Swells/Pacific Daylight Time” for its tender, lovelorn sweep. Across these highlights, the band's mix of guitars, strings, glockenspiel, and synths gives youthful angst an infectious lift without softening its bite.
Reviewers describe a compact record of heartbreak, self-loathing, and internet-era indie life, where clever lyrics and pop immediacy coexist with genuine emotional sting. Some find the writing overly clever or question how fully its theatrical melodrama connects; others hear catharsis and emotional honesty in the same unruly performance. A few note that the momentum is less consistent beyond the opening stretch, though even less enthusiastic responses recognize the melodies and idiosyncratic arrangements as lasting charms. The critical consensus suggests a vivid, imperfect record rather than a reinvention, with its strongest songs making the case for its restless blend of bitterness and buoyancy. Read the reviews below for a closer look at where critics agree, and where the album's cleverness divides them.
Track Ratings
How critics rated each track, relative to this album (0-100). Only tracks that made critics feel something are rated.
Ways To Make It Through the Wall
Miserabilia
We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed
Between an Erupting Earth and an Exploding Sky
You'll Need Those Fingers For Crossing
It's Never That Easy Though, Is It? (Song For the Other Kurt)
The End of the Asterisk
Documented Minor Emotional Breakdown # 1
Heart Swells/Pacific Daylight Time
All Your Kayfabe Friends
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What Critics Are Saying
Deep insights from 25 critics who reviewed this album
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Critic's Take
Los Campesinos! return with We are Beautiful, We Are Doomed, where the best songs are barbed and bitter because that’s the way love can be. The opening “Ways To Make It Through the Wall” starts with a curdled mix of obnoxiousness and righteousness, while the title track builds an anthem out of anger. There are moments of comfort, too: stolen kisses on the dazed hoedown “Heart Swells/Pacific Daylight Time” and the sweet, balmy violin pop of “You'll Need Those Fingers For Crossing”.
Key Points
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The title track turns anger and self-laceration into energetic anthems.
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The album balances barbed relationship songs with moments of comfort in its violin pop and stolen-kiss hoedowns.
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Critic's Take
Los Campesinos! sound like a generation of beautiful messes on We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed, and the best tracks - notably “Ways To Make It Through the Wall” and “We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed” - prove it. The reviewer's voice delights in the album's screeching guitars, glockenspiels and racing synths, praising the euphoric climaxes and quotable, pretentious jumble that somehow coheres. He singles out “Ways To Make It Through the Wall” for its addictive hooks and the title track for its anthemic scream, both examples of the record's dizzying, lovable experience. Overall the record is unresolved and flawed, but gloriously careless and heartwarming, the kind of album that will stick its foot in your music library and refuse to leave.
Key Points
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The best song, “Ways To Make It Through the Wall”, is best for its euphoric, addictive climaxes and hook-driven payoff.
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The album's core strength is its coherent chaos - catchy, melodramatic indie-pop with inventive arrangements and raw emotion.
Themes
Critic's Take
Los Campesinos!' follow-up We are Beautiful, We Are Doomed is described in the review as a messy, glorious document of internet-café-era indie life, and the critic singles out “Heart Swells/Pacific Daylight Time” as a standout for its lovelorn miniature-epic sweep. The review likewise praises the seismic instrumental “Between an Erupting Earth and an Exploding Sky” and the motorik-locked melancholia of “You'll Need Those Fingers for Crossing”, making them among the best tracks on We are Beautiful, We Are Doomed. The writer's tone is admiring but frank, noting intensified self-loathing and catharsis that make these songs resonate more sharply than the debut.
Key Points
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The best song is "Heart Swells/Pacific Daylight Time" because of its lovelorn, miniature-epic structure and shifting sonic textures.
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The album's core strengths are its ragged, noisy production and intensified self-loathing that make short, urgent songs feel cathartic and memorable.
Themes
Critic's Take
Los Campesinos! are clearly in opposition to something, but I can’t quite put my finger on what it is. For the best songs on We are Beautiful, We Are Doomed, “We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed” is where it’s at: an utterly brilliant song, with Gareth reeling off brilliant line after brilliant line. The rest of the best tracks, like “Miserabilia”, are really good too.
Key Points
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The title track is best because the reviewer calls it the album’s ultimate source of frustration and an utterly brilliant song.
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Its rougher production, noisier guitars, and brilliant lines make for a very very good record.
Themes
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Critic's Take
Los Campesinos! sound young and poppy on We are Beautiful, We Are Doomed, and the reviewer's bemused tone picks out bright melodies and quirky arrangements as the album's chief charms. He keeps returning to the band's strongish melodies and instrumental touches - glockenspiel, violins and synths - as what makes the best tracks on We are Beautiful, We Are Doomed sparkle. The writing voice questions sincerity, noting the clever-clever lyrics that stop short of genuine heart, which explains why the best songs feel both thrilling and slightly tentative. Overall the reviewer frames the album as enjoyable but puzzling, the kind of record that makes critics go "awww!" and him go "eeerrrr?"
Key Points
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The best songs shine because of strong melodies and instrumental color like glockenspiel and violins.
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The album's core strength is energetic indie-pop arrangements tempered by clever but occasionally insincere songwriting.
Themes
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Critic's Take
Los Campesinos! follow up with We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed as a compact confirmation of their gift for loveable melodies and bitter lyrics. Chris Buckle praises opener “Ways To Make It Through the Wall” as an "adrenaline-charged rush of pop-hooks" while noting the title track “We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed” eases off the accelerator to reveal depth. The result answers searches for best songs on We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed with those two immediate standouts, both balancing hyperactivity and emotional sting. Overall the album refines rather than reinvents, delivering the best tracks as proof of a knack for melodic immediacy.
Key Points
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The best song is "Ways To Make It Through the Wall" because of its adrenaline-charged pop-hooks and clever, barbed lyrics.
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The album’s core strengths are irresistible melodies paired with bittersweet, witty lyrics and refined energetic arrangements.
Themes
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Critic's Take
Los Campesinos! are still firing on all cylinders, even when they downshift into textured, minor-key electronics and acoustic guitar. The best songs on We are Beautiful, We Are Doomed come right at the start: “Ways to Make It Through the Wall”, “Miserabilia”, and the title track make pessimism tremendously exciting, even uplifting. “You’ll Need Those Fingers for Crossing” still shows off the interplay between Tom’s lead guitar and Harriet’s violin to great effect.
Key Points
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The opening trio is best because it makes the album’s pessimistic outlook tremendously exciting, even uplifting.
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The album’s core strength is the band’s ability to make bitterly self-aware misanthropy sound exciting while still shifting into textured, minor-key passages.
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Critic's Take
Los Campesinos! keep the nervous energy intact on We are Beautiful, We are Doomed, and the title track in particular arrives like a glorious, profane mission statement. The record trades in jagged confessionals and violin-guitar point-counterpoint, and songs such as “We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed” and “Ways To Make It Through the Wall” feel like the best tracks, compact and unrelenting. This is pop that is both frantic and tender, the kind of short, furious album that rewards repeat plays.
Key Points
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The title track is the album's centerpiece because its brutal, quotable lyric crystallizes the record's worldview.
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The album's core strength is its concise, energetic songwriting that turns short runtime into concentrated hooks and emotion.
Themes
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Critic's Take
Los Campesinos!'s We are Beautiful, We Are Doomed brims with fizzing energy, and the best songs - notably “Ways To Make It Through the Wall” and “You'll Need Those Fingers For Crossing” - show why. Joseph Weiler's voice delights in the band's knack for literate couplets and terrace-chant hooks, so the best tracks on We are Beautiful, We Are Doomed are those that pair sharp lyricism with kinetic arrangements. The title track also lingers as a sulky, beloved centerpiece, while “Heart Swells/Pacific Daylight Time” proves they can be tender as well as urgent. Overall, the album's strengths lie in youthful despondency given glorious pop wings, which makes these songs the standout moments listeners ask for when searching for the best tracks on the album.
Key Points
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The album's core strengths are literate, youthful despondency married to energetic, unpretentious indie-pop.
Themes
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Critic's Take
Los Campesinos! keep their exuberant, witty voice intact on We are Beautiful, We Are Doomed, and the best songs - notably “Ways To Make It Through the Wall” and “It's Never That Easy Though, Is It? (Song For the Other Kurt)” - wear that contrast proudly. The record opens with “Ways To Make It Through the Wall”, which the reviewer says "explod[es] like a dog out of a trap", giving the album an irresistible rush. Mid-album highlights such as “It's Never That Easy Though, Is It? (Song For the Other Kurt)” and “Documented Minor Emotional Breakdown # 1” show the band turning melodrama into catchy, singalong hooks. Though the reviewer notes consistency slips after the first three tracks, the record's mixture of bright music and pessimistic lyrics makes these best tracks stand out.
Key Points
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The best song is the opener "Ways To Make It Through the Wall" because its explosive exuberance sets the album apart.
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The album’s core strength is contrast: pessimistic, melodramatic lyrics over bright, bouncy music.