Gogol Bordello – Pura Vida Conspiracy

With Pura Vida Conspiracy being their sixth studio album, once again raucous gypsy-punks Gogol Bordello have shaken-up the music industry. The album has arrived at the perfect time for the band. With a world tour at end of this year, festivals lined up this summer and building on the popularity of their last few albums, 2013 could be their most successful year yet.

My initial impression of the album was that they’d played it safe. It was convincingly similar to the sound they’d gone for in the past, with lyrics leaning repetitively towards the revolutionary bedlam heard in Super Taranta! Then I listened back – and it was at this point I realised how wrong my primary instincts were.

We Rise Again starts the album off with ballad-like lyrics, heightening in intensity as it continues. I’ve been lucky enough to already catch this live at Download Festival this year – it was so rapidly iconic that I almost expected to look around and see everyone singing the lyrics as if the album had been out for years.

I also managed to catch Rainbows live. The upbeat acoustic rhythm and its relatively dismal lyrics don’t instantly conjure up the image of band members and fans alike breaking into harmonies and dancing in the mud; but, sure enough, that’s just what happened.

However it’s the albums fourth track, Lost Innocent World, which secures the albums success. Its lyrics are life affirming and heart wrenching simultaneously, while the music builds in time with the pace. It’s the sort of track where the lyrics will soon be seen on t shirts everywhere.

Adding relaxation to the album Amen, Name Your Ship and I Just Realized give listeners a moment to clarify their feelings towards the album – having already, hopefully, decided that it’s unquestionably brilliant. They are the sort of songs that you could find yourself linking arms with the stranger next to you and swaying to with a drunken smile on your face down the pub; which is one of the major indicators of a great song.

Hieroglyph and final track We Shall Sail are a perfect combination of gypsy melodies and poetic lyrics – peacefully ending the album on a pause in a 10 minute long track that leads to a secret hard-core punk jam.

It’s almost impossible for Gogol Bordello not to inject a touch of happiness into your day and this has only been established further with the release of Pura Vida Conspiracy. Each track holds an energy that can’t be matched, hopeful lyrics that could bring a tear to the hardest of souls and beats that are sure to get your feet moving.

It’s clear that Gogol Bordello are still in the fight for a revolution, and their army of fans are right behind them. Pura Vida Conspiracy is their best album yet – showing their growth as musicians and indicating what I hope is even greater things to come.

www.gogolbordello.com