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Los Campesinos! Got Your Back: Hieronymus Bosch’s “The Garden Of Earthly Delights”

LosCamplogoAs evidenced by both their music and exclamatory band name, the seven members of Cardiff, Wales’ Los Campesinos! are excitable boys and girls. The group’s third album, Romance Is Boring (Arts & Crafts), is an energetic, all-hands-on-deck dash through the pantheon of sharp indie pop and sloppy post-punk, gathering steam from Bright Eyes’ sense of emotional catharsis and Art Brut’s wry take on modern love. Try to gather all the influences brought to bear on Romance Is Boring by LC!’s seven-member army, however, and we’d be here all day. MAGNET spoke to songwriter Tom Campesinos! and guitarist Neil Campesinos!—all members (Tom, Neil, Ellen, Gareth, Harriet, Ollie and Kim) have taken the band’s surname—about the new album. Los Campesinos! will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our Q&A with them.

GardenDelightsEllen: When it comes to art, I am ignorant. I have an amazing ability to forget the names, movements and styles of 80 percent of the artwork I see, even if I rather admire it. It is a non-transferrable skill, and it does not get me far in life. However, it does mean the art pieces I do remember are all the more impressive. They must have some kind of je ne sais quoi to them for the indentation to remain in my psyche. Hieronymus Bosch‘s The Garden Of Earthly Delights is one of those pieces. It is held at the wonderful-yet-humongous Prado in Milan (an art gallery we visited last year whilst on tour), and this triptych depicts the stages of creation. (Although apparently that is up for debate.) The left panel shows Adam and Eve hanging out with God, the middle panel has some kind of giant orgy scene, and the right is a horrifically disturbing vision of hell. The central panel is filled up with writhing bodies, and the right panel contains strange creatures torturing said writhing bodies about five minutes after the orgy finished. It’s intricate in its detail and symbolism, and the more you gaze upon, the more you realize how disturbing and fascinating a piece it is. Take home message? Don’t have sexy fun unless you want to be punished for all eternity by bird monsters. Video after the jump.

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