If this review could be one word long, that word would be "enchanting." Camera Obscura has always been lovely but they've made the jump to truly enchanting with their third album, Let's Get Out of This Country. Stepping fully out of the shadow of their onetime patrons Belle & Sebastian, the group has composed and performed an album that is comparable to B&S' best and ranks with the best indie pop albums ever. More importantly, they've released an album that pierces straight through the heart. Head Camera Tracyanne Campbell writes amazingly intimate and tender allads that can break your heart with the slightest lyrical twist, swell of strings, or vocal harmony. That she sings these songs in a voice so sweet and direct adds an extra level of feeling to songs like the wrenching "Country Mile" and the almost unbearably melancholy "Tears for Affairs." The band's gentle and restrained playing and the expansive production courtesy of Jari Haapalainen are note perfect as well. Whether rocking out in a Motown manner or lying back with some mellow country-rock, the combination of music, lyrics, melodies, and vocals is, well, enchanting. Picking out highlights is like picking your favorite among your children, but you might find yourself drawn to the witty "Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken" (a 22-years-late response to Lloyd Cole's classic "Are You Ready to Be Heartbroken?"), the aforementioned "Country Mile," the musically relaxed, lyrically bitter "I Need All the Friends I Can Get," or the country tearjerker "Dory Previn," which references the singer/songwriter who had her husband stolen by a very young Mia Farrow and in response wrote the classic breakup song "Beware of Young Girls." Here Campbell turns Previn "up to 11 for the band's ears to bleed" in order to help put her ex out of her mind and delivers her most affecting vocal on the album, which is no small feat on a record as suffused in heartache as Let's Get Out of This Country. You might not find heartache as enchanting as this anywhere else.
20094ADBuy (Amazon.com)9/10"It feels like none of this is real."Lucky for us, it is. This song, this album, this band - it's all quite real. And it's all really quite good, for that matter. Camera Obscura's third LP, Let's Get Out Of This Country, found its way onto a handful of year-end lists, and rightfully so. Two years and ten months later, the follow-up seems poised to do much the same
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Been listening to Camera Obscura’s “Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken,” the Glasgow, Scotland art-pop band’s lilting answer song to “Are You Ready to Be Heartbroken?” - the yearning ballad by folk-rock singer-songwriter Lloyd Cole. The Camera Obscura number is a beauty. I almost like the response better than the tune that inspired it.The answer song isn’t a new thing. It’s been go
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Let's Get Out of The Country baaaarely missed my list for best album of '06 - largely because I already had one precious, Glasgow-based band with a phenomenal album there already, and my tolerance for precious is pretty thin...But, then I saw Camera Obscura a few weeks ago, and now I'm wishing I'd have given them more of a chance when I'd reviewed my album list. The group's heavy reliance on or...
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Zero 7 - "I Have Seen" Classic Zero 7 (check the drum loops) provides the coolest soundtrack to...well, whatever you're doing at the time. The Zutons - "Valerie" A snazzy little bluesy groove thing--think Elvis Costello plus a swingin' horn section. Camera Obscura - "Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken" Scot-poppers take a Phil Spector-guided tour of Motown, and everyone go-go dan...
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Thanks to my friends Melanie and Noelle, I was able to make it to Athens, GA this past friday to see one of my favorite bands this year- Camera Obscura. We got there at the perfect time, as the line wasn't too long. It was my first time to Athens, and thus my first time to the 40 Watt. It's a great venue with EXCELLENT sound and a great atmosphere. I highly recommend seeing shows there. The ope...
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Ok, so I decided to finally jump on the "best of 2006" bandwagon and put together a post myself. This is my top eleven releases of 2006. Notice I said "releases" not "full length albums," as this contains a few EP's. And I'm making it eleven because eleven is way cooler than ten. I know there are many other great albums and EP's from this year that aren't on here, but this is my top ten out of ...
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I just found out Camera Obscura is going to be at the 40 Watt in January.Even though I don't know the price just yet, what is the general opinion about their shows? I'm lukewarm on their album, but like them enough to go see them if the price is right (the 40 Watt is generally pretty reasonable). So Camera Obscura shows? Positive or negative? Help a poor college girl out by letting her know how...
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Been listening to Camera Obscura’s “Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken,” the Glasgow, Scotland art-pop band’s lilting answer song to “Are You Ready to Be Heartbroken?” - the yearning ballad by folk-rock singer-songwriter Lloyd Cole. The Camera Obscura number is a beauty. I almost like the response better than the tune that inspired it.The answer song isn’t a new thing. It’s been go
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Well... it took 22 years for Lloyd's question to be answered. ...and it took the brilliant, fellow Glasgow band, Camera Obscura to do it properly...(NOTE: I spent about an hour getting the post ready... finding my old Lloyd Cole cd. Finding appropriate art... and then, on a whim, I checked who had already posted Camera Obscura... what the hell was I thinking? Mike The Knife, of course, was ALL...
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Zero 7 - "I Have Seen" Classic Zero 7 (check the drum loops) provides the coolest soundtrack to...well, whatever you're doing at the time. The Zutons - "Valerie" A snazzy little bluesy groove thing--think Elvis Costello plus a swingin' horn section. Camera Obscura - "Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken" Scot-poppers take a Phil Spector-guided tour of Motown, and everyone go-go dan...
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So I never did get around to Why I Love Audio Cassettes Part II (it lies half finished in a Word document), which acted as such a de-motivator for writing more on this blog, even though I had so much to say, like how bloody AMAZING the Animal Collective was live, one of those rare surprises when you can't really be arsed to go to a gig that night, you're just tired and don't want to be standing...
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Let's Get Out of The Country baaaarely missed my list for best album of '06 - largely because I already had one precious, Glasgow-based band with a phenomenal album there already, and my tolerance for precious is pretty thin...But, then I saw Camera Obscura a few weeks ago, and now I'm wishing I'd have given them more of a chance when I'd reviewed my album list. The group's heavy reliance on or...
More >
Thanks to my friends Melanie and Noelle, I was able to make it to Athens, GA this past friday to see one of my favorite bands this year- Camera Obscura. We got there at the perfect time, as the line wasn't too long. It was my first time to Athens, and thus my first time to the 40 Watt. It's a great venue with EXCELLENT sound and a great atmosphere. I highly recommend seeing shows there. The ope...
More >
I cannot BELIEVE that it is almost November! What the flip happened??For those who don't know me, this means that I have a mere 2 months left to narrow down choices for my annual end-of-the-year music comp! Call me a spaz, but I haven't even begun to give this year's releases a fair shake. And I just got 4 more albums yesterday when my eMusic subscription renewed. This digital age is killing me...
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Ok, so I decided to finally jump on the "best of 2006" bandwagon and put together a post myself. This is my top eleven releases of 2006. Notice I said "releases" not "full length albums," as this contains a few EP's. And I'm making it eleven because eleven is way cooler than ten. I know there are many other great albums and EP's from this year that aren't on here, but this is my top ten out of ...
More >
I just found out Camera Obscura is going to be at the 40 Watt in January.Even though I don't know the price just yet, what is the general opinion about their shows? I'm lukewarm on their album, but like them enough to go see them if the price is right (the 40 Watt is generally pretty reasonable). So Camera Obscura shows? Positive or negative? Help a poor college girl out by letting her know how...
More >
Loved this song the moment I heard it, a total rush. I dipped into the record a few times after that and was less smitten. I've now given it the full MOG treatment, front to back and can safely say -- meh. It's charming and breezy with a nice retro, echoey production, but honestly the tunes are a little bland. Nothing on here hits with the wallop of the single. I remember being a little underwh...
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After reading the review of this album in Philadelphia Weekly, where it was described as “outrunning the Belle and Sebastian comparisons to snatch the batons from The Pastels, Spearmint and dozens of obscure ’60s girl groups,” I decided it would be a good idea to check out Camera Obscura’s latest record.I saw it at AKA Music on 2nd Street and timidly asked the counterperson what she thoug
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I am uploading this to post to Amber's blog about friendship...
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Compiled by: KRFC 01. Ryan Adams and Kim Richey - "Come Pick Me Up" (Heartbreaker) 02. Apache Dancers - "I Can't Talk To Her" (War Stories) 03. Joan Armatrading - "Weakness in Me" (Walk Under Ladders) 04. The Artful Dodger - "Woman Trouble" (Re-Rewind) 05. Bats and Mice - "Worst Comes To Worst" (Believe It Mammals) 06. Camera Obscura - "Tears For Affairs" (Let's Get Out of This Country) 07. Th...
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I'm not sure if I'm getting soft in my old age but I've been getting into more girl groups and female singers lately. Maybe I'm more open minded or maybe the women are more talented than ever? This new Camera Obscura CD, "Lets get out of this country", is melodic and infectious in a commercial pop kind of way (That's not a bad thing !). Lush instrumentation and lavish production bring home...
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I just found out that Camera Obscura's playing in my city. Yay! I can't wait, I'm going with my friends.PS, I'm new to this MOG. I've only been using Audioscrobbler. We'll see how well MOG works. So far, I've had nothing but slowdown on my MAC computer since I've downloaded the MOG software....that's not good, huh? =(Here's a little picture cartoon I made:Ok, bye!
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 "Let's Get Out of This Country")
