Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career

I think that's just her face, nothing to do with her emotional state, although I'm sure the problem is aggravated hearing "cheer up, hen" a dozen times a day.

what else sounds like this? and not just lol b&s and other co albums. and is this good?

The Concretes In Colour, perhaps? Or do they count as lol other co?

co = camera obscura

will try it. loved the first record and then totally forgot they existed.

the school aren't that far removed, though they are perhaps less melancholy and more upbeat/girl group

These guys are usually pretty good live, but "French Navy" is just not the same song without the strings :(

The new one is outstanding. Maybe their best.

New year's resolution to write something of valuuuuuuuuue...."

Love it.

Is it out there now or do you have a promo copy? Can't believe it's been four years already since the last album.

has the new album leaked? "do it again" doesn't do much for me. I'll still buy it the day it comes out.

I have a promo copy. I don't think it comes out for several more weeks, but I hope people get really excited about it. It's scaled back a bit from their last couple albums, but the songs are just wonderful

There doesn't seem to be a lot of hype so far but I'm really looking forward to it. It's out on June 3rd so there is still time for people to get excited.

Loved the last one, but yeah, kinda forgot this was coming out.

Didn't know there's a new one. Obv based on up thread I really liked mmc, hope this is as good. I came here to see if anything new was in the works.

New album is out there now. Sounds beautiful so far, a bit more understated than the last album.

Think they've finally made an album as good as Biggest Bluest Hi-Fi.

strange that they are touring with she and him because they are essentially the same band now. will they all play at once? it's a tad adult contemporary but then, they are old. a bit dull and overly polished. on first listen my least favorite record of theirs.

I really like the new record and I've never liked them or this kind of "music"

Camera Obscura news, and if you have some spare cash you might like to donate.
https://www.justgiving.com/Carey-Lander

Also, cancer is a basic bitch.

^ this.

Very sad news just announced

https://twitter.com/camera_obscura_/status/653254426677919748

Christ, so young.

Really sad news. RIP Carey.

:( RIP.

She was a good friend to many current and erstwhile ILXors. We'll miss her dreadfully.

great band. terrible news.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulnzKT1yrm4

Very sad. I've been listening to Camera Obscura all afternoon. Such a great band! We should do a singles poll!

sad. she did in fact write (i assume; sing, at least) something of value.

extremely sad, they were a wonderful band. RIP.

yeah this is awful

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5T8ukGIqTwc

lovely as always, album is out in may

<3

Nice song. I loved seeing Edwyn Collins pop up in the teaser video they posted.

I was just wondering about this band. I didn't know about the horrible news with Lander's passing until just now. So sad. I'm guessing they dropped the Camera Obscura name.

Wonderful song. It's good to see Tracyanne back in a new capacity.

xp just a side project

New albums out

Tracyanne Campbell has such a wonderful voice - mournful, expressive and hopeful all at once. I dont understand why she isn't the only voice on this. Even her barely-whispered backing vocals on "Jacqueline" overshadow Danny Coughlan's attempts to hold the spotlight.

Was just reading about Traceyanne & Danny ( on tour now). I need to investigate

I do like this album, but I would like it more the less Danny was present. The songs are really good and his voice isn't *awful* but it's just not the same.

so glad to hear about traceyanne and danny project, wish they'd visit CO, appears no, tho.

wow i missed carey's passing somehow even to now, that's horrible.

Her voice is definitely better than his. I like the twee cuts better than the folky roots ones.

So I gather that John Henderson’s departure from Camera Obscura was acrimonious. There is an interview with Traceyanne Campbell where she tells the interviewer not to even ask why Henderson is no longer in the band.

But as someone who has never been to a Camera Obscura concert: what happened post-2003 to the early songs which Henderson sang? Do they still get played, or did the band decide to abandon them completely?

Camera Obscura Announces First New Album In Over Ten Years

Look to the East, Look to the West Out May 3rd on Merge

Watch the Video for Lead Single “Big Love”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raC2EfuOi5Q

Today, the legendary Scottish indie-pop band Camera Obscura announces Look to the East, Look to the West, their first new album in over ten years, out May 3rd on Merge Records. The group, led by guitarist & vocalist Tracyanne Campbell, have reunited with Jari Haapalainen, who produced the band’s 2006 album Let’s Get Out of This Country and 2009’s My Maudlin Career, and have crafted an album that simultaneously recalls why longtime fans have ferociously loved them for decades while also being their most sophisticated effort to date.

Lead single “Big Love” relishes in the space between country rock and prog, a pining break-up anthem featuring the soaring pedal steel of Tim Davidson. It’s a Nashville Sound heartbreaker, tackling the complexity of wanting to rekindle a bad relationship with Campbell’s uncanny ability to render the past: “It was a big love, she said / That’s why it took ten years to get her out of her head,” she begins. “‘Big Love’ is our tribute to Waylon Jennings, with a nod to Sandy Denny and prog rock band Scope,” says Campbell. “It’s a song about not looking back, having faith in the present and future.”


Look to the East, Look to the West was the most hard-fought album of Camera Obscura’s career. Following the 2015 passing of founding keyboardist and friend Carey Lander, the band went into an extended hiatus. They remained in contact, but their status was uncertain until they announced their return, having been invited to perform as part of Belle & Sebastian’s 2019 Boaty Weekender cruise festival, along with a pair of sold-out warm-up shows in Glasgow. Donna Maciocia (keys and vocals) joined founding members Kenny McKeeve (guitar and vocals), Gavin Dunbar (bass), and Lee Thomson (drums and percussion) for those shows and has since become a regular songwriting partner of Campbell’s.

Recorded in the same room where Queen wrote “Bohemian Rhapsody,” Look to the East, Look to the West feels big, a widescreen reframing of Camera Obscura’s sound that, paradoxically, saw the band go back to basics—there are no string or brass arrangements, with more emphasis placed on piano, synthesizers, Hammond organ, and drum machines, and, perhaps most strikingly, the group have dropped the veil of reverb that characterized their previous albums. The tinges of country and soul that give Camera Obscura’s baroque take on pop music its bittersweet edge have never been more apparent—guitars shimmer into the distance, keys haunt, and Campbell’s voice searches for the heart, reflecting on love, loss, and the passage of time.

Look to the East, Look to the West is the sound of a band that has grown more confident in its sound and purpose than ever. It is Camera Obscura at their best and most evocative, an album that completely rearranges the listener’s emotional core, leaving them sad and exhilarated at the same time. Camera Obscura’s catalog is replete with songs people point to as life-changing, songs that will stick with them all their lives. Look to the East, Look to the West has 11 of them; take your pick.

Pre-order Look to the East, Look to the West

Look to the East, Look to the West Tracklist:
1. Liberty Print
2. We're Going to Make It in a Man's World
3. Big Love
4. Only a Dream
5. The Light Nights
6. Sleepwalking
7. Baby Huey (Hard Times)
8. Denon
9. Pop Goes Pop
10. Sugar Almond
11. Look to the East, Look to the West

Camera Obscura Tour Dates
(New Dates in Bold)
Thu. May 2 - Hebden Bridge, UK @ The Trades Club
Sat. May 4 - Leeds, UK @ Stylus
Mon. May 6 - Manchester, UK @ Academy 2
Tue. May 7 - London, UK @ Koko
Thu. May 9 - Brighton, UK @ Concorde 2
Fri. May 10 - Birmingham, UK @ O2 Academy 2
Sat. May 11 - Glasgow, UK @ Barrowland Ballroom
Wed. May 29 - Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
Thu. May 30 - Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club
Fri. May 31 - Montreal, QC @ Theatre Fairmont
Sat. Jun. 1 - Toronto, ON @ The Concert Hall
Mon. Jun. 3 - Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall
Tue. Jun. 4 - Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line
Fri. Jun. 7 - Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile
Sat. Jun. 8 - Portland, OR @ Revolution Hall
Mon. Jun. 10 - San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore
Tue. Jun. 11 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Regent Theater
Wed. Jun. 12 - Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom
Fri. Jun. 14 - Dallas, TX @ Studio at the Factory
Sat. Jun. 15 - Austin, TX @ Scoot Inn
Mon. Jun. 17 - Atlanta, GA @ Variety
Tue. Jun. 18 - Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle
Wed. Jun. 19 - Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
Thu. Jun. 20 - New York, NY @ Webster Hall
Sat. Jun. 22 - Mon. Jun. 24 - Mexico City, MX @ Foro Indie Rocks!
For more information, contact:
Patrick Tilley | Pitch Perfect PR - patrick at pitchperfectpr.com

This is just the best news. I've missed these guys.

Baby Huey (Hard Times)

wait what

For some reason in the last couple of weeks I've decided never to support this band again, oh well.

What, were you sending them cheques