Three years ago on Let’s Get Out Of This Country Scottish Spectorpop band Camera Obscura hit an unstoppable Phelps-like stride in their particularly watery, whimsical discipline of music. They butterfly-stroked their way to victory in Lloyd I’m Ready To Be Heartbroken, plunged headfirst towards victory with If Looks Could Kill, and gracefully waltzed underwater with Tears For Affairs. Time to order a new trophy cabinet, guys: My Maudlin Career’s going to keep a whole gold mine in business.
Frontwoman Tracyanne Campbell’s lyrics have always been enough to steam up the glasses of a library-dwelling bookworm. Hers are stories of heartbreak and missed opportunities to make all but the most hard-hearted of listeners not want to offer her a cup of tea and consolatory hug. Thankfully, Obscura’s musical career has not been so Maudlin. Tempering Campbell’s teary tales with the most luscious of Ronettes-ready sound chambers, Mazzy Star-like glitter glue innocence, melody ripped right from the Belle and Sebastian songbook, and hooks stolen from an offshore fishing trawler, it’s hard to know which party is the most endearing. There’s a distinctive dichotomy between singer and band, as in the 60s pop production fashion, but both are mutually independent.
Like sepia-tinted photos, dipping your fingers in honeypots and licking them clean, and a second date with someone you’re not quite sure about Camera Obscura inflict an inexplicable effect on your gut, somewhere between serenity and a thrilling anxiety, and this is their most potent concoction to date.
