Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career

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:( RIP.

carly bae jepsen (monotony), Sunday, 11 October 2015 20:44 (eight years ago) link

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

ailsa, Sunday, 11 October 2015 23:32 (eight years ago) link

great band. terrible news.

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

Treeship, Sunday, 11 October 2015 23:33 (eight years ago) link

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

daavid, Monday, 12 October 2015 02:15 (eight years ago) link

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

it's not a tuomas (benbbag), Tuesday, 13 October 2015 06:40 (eight years ago) link

extremely sad, they were a wonderful band. RIP.

Comme Si, Kamasi (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 14 October 2015 18:27 (eight years ago) link

yeah this is awful

call all destroyer, Wednesday, 14 October 2015 18:29 (eight years ago) link

two years pass...

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

lovely as always, album is out in may

devvvine, Tuesday, 27 February 2018 19:45 (six years ago) link

<3

Simon H., Tuesday, 27 February 2018 19:50 (six years ago) link

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

kitchen person, Tuesday, 27 February 2018 20:09 (six years ago) link

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.

Rod Steel (musicfanatic), Wednesday, 28 February 2018 01:15 (six years ago) link

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

Le Bateau Ivre, Wednesday, 28 February 2018 08:23 (six years ago) link

xp just a side project

devvvine, Wednesday, 28 February 2018 10:05 (six years ago) link

two months pass...

New albums out

just sayin, Saturday, 26 May 2018 08:08 (six years ago) link

two weeks pass...

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.

boxedjoy, Thursday, 14 June 2018 10:16 (five years ago) link

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

curmudgeon, Friday, 15 June 2018 19:30 (five years ago) link

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.

boxedjoy, Friday, 15 June 2018 19:58 (five years ago) link

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.

Hunt3r, Friday, 15 June 2018 20:00 (five years ago) link

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

curmudgeon, Monday, 18 June 2018 13:49 (five years ago) link

one year passes...

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?

Melomane, Friday, 3 April 2020 00:34 (four years ago) link

three years pass...

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

https://lnk.to/LookToTheEast


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

dow, Tuesday, 30 January 2024 19:32 (four months ago) link

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

kitchen person, Tuesday, 30 January 2024 19:35 (four months ago) link

Baby Huey (Hard Times)

wait what

nashwan, Tuesday, 30 January 2024 19:42 (four months ago) link

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

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Tuesday, 30 January 2024 19:45 (four months ago) link

What, were you sending them cheques

dow, Tuesday, 30 January 2024 19:49 (four months ago) link

not directly

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Tuesday, 30 January 2024 19:50 (four months ago) link

I think My Maudlin Career is still my favorite.

I like the sound of Big Love, the odd country touch, the held back chorus, the very nice bridge and bass work in the instrumental part. Brilliant. It takes me back.

Nabozo, Tuesday, 30 January 2024 20:08 (four months ago) link

why be coy abt it, CaAL? tracyanne campbell has the transphobia brainworms. shit sucks.

what followed the axes was just the beginning (cat), Wednesday, 31 January 2024 01:15 (four months ago) link

I guess this is a good time to finally listen to Desire Lines? it came out right around the time I was getting into Let's Get Out of This Country and My Maudlin Career, but something (Pitchfork review? Keith's post upthread?) convinced me that Desire Lines was a huge dropoff in quality and an unfortunate lapse into adult contemporary mush. I think I've finally come to the terms with the fact that former p4k darlings are no longer young or cool. new song is nice

hogarth brooks (unregistered), Wednesday, 31 January 2024 01:45 (four months ago) link

why be coy abt it, CaAL? tracyanne campbell has the transphobia brainworms. shit sucks.

― what followed the axes was just the beginning (cat)

Fuck! Gutted about this.

kitchen person, Wednesday, 31 January 2024 01:48 (four months ago) link

Desire Lines is great, as is this new one!

Davey D, Wednesday, 31 January 2024 02:11 (four months ago) link

Desire Lines is great, as is this new one!

Davey D, Wednesday, 31 January 2024 02:11 (four months ago) link

a small update on this as I’m aware some people have felt unnecessarily attacked: a lot of people don’t know about tracyanne campbell’s (now deleted) history of online transphobia (vocal support for maya forstater, e.g.) and I realise it’s not fair to tar the band’s fans … https://t.co/LlBX0UrPc1

— Robert Dallas Gray (@rdg_music) January 12, 2024

well, shit.

the absence of bikes (f. hazel), Wednesday, 31 January 2024 02:52 (four months ago) link

by the way, if you’re looking for receipts, here are some. tracyanne deleted a load of tweets in the last year or so; you’ll have to use your imagination, but it’s fairly obvious what’s going on

if Traceyanne's comments were really so alarming, then why didn't LWoB dude take the time to archive (or at least mention) the offending tweets 4+ years ago while he still had the chance? he's a legendary guitarist but his cancellation game is weak

hogarth brooks (unregistered), Wednesday, 31 January 2024 03:34 (four months ago) link

If she's 'phobic, she sucks, but if the evidence is deleted, as RDG says it is, how can we (the we who never followed her) know? Anybody got screen shots where we don't have to use our imagination? Only other thing about I've found is an accusation on Reddit.

dow, Wednesday, 31 January 2024 03:36 (four months ago) link

"only other thing about *it* I've found," that is.

dow, Wednesday, 31 January 2024 03:39 (four months ago) link

Camaraderie's comment concerned me, so I poked around online. That's what I found.

the absence of bikes (f. hazel), Wednesday, 31 January 2024 03:47 (four months ago) link

I'm really hoping this somehow isn't true. This band have meant so much to me for so long. I'll definitely be holding off buying tickets for their upcoming show here in Minnesota.

kitchen person, Wednesday, 31 January 2024 03:51 (four months ago) link

yeah she was a vocal transphobe in 2019 and has since shut up about it and deleted the tweets but you can see still she follows a bunch of them on twitter. also worth noting that francis macdonald of teenage fanclub is camera obscura's manager and he used to be loudly transphobic too

rdg wasn't even on twitter in 2019 which is probably why he didn't speak up at the time but i'm glad he is now

here's people arguing in response to one of her tweets at the time:

feeling more empathy for a person getting flack online for liking *en masse* tweets in support of someone who's main thing is that trans women are men / vice versa, over trans people who have to see one of their favourite artists do this, isn't it.

— gwenth (@morverncaller) December 20, 2019

here's some of the many twitter likes people took notice of, but there's a whole lot more

https://i.imgur.com/9SGEynm.png

ufo, Wednesday, 31 January 2024 04:29 (four months ago) link

oh good, we can play the plausible deniability game yet again

wang mang band (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 31 January 2024 06:05 (four months ago) link

there's no real plausible deniability here

ufo, Wednesday, 31 January 2024 06:49 (four months ago) link

i agree

wang mang band (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 31 January 2024 06:52 (four months ago) link

why be coy abt it, CaAL? tracyanne campbell has the transphobia brainworms. shit sucks
Well initially I was just surprised that it wasn't better-known, as we had a big conversation about it on here just a couple of weeks ago. Then I thought about how everyone ITT was so happy, and I was about to ruin that, and there would inevitably be some pushback, and possibly an argument. Then I wondered whether it wasn't better when we were blissfully unaware of the appalling views of artists we liked. But ultimately it was late and I was busy and tired and thought "if someone else doesn't post it then I will" and then I went to sleep.

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Wednesday, 31 January 2024 08:57 (four months ago) link

yeah, i get that.

h8 when bigoted artists trying to be all tight-lipped about what they believe! it's such a crappy feeling every time it comes to light, like i was just sitting there enjoying one of my fave snacks and finally noticed the label where it says the main ingredient is rancid monkey splooge. i didn't want to be enjoying that!

what followed the axes was just the beginning (cat), Wednesday, 31 January 2024 09:17 (four months ago) link

yeah I've learned from experience that people don't want to know about cochineal

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Wednesday, 31 January 2024 09:20 (four months ago) link

Personally, fwiw, it's not so much about plausible deniability, and more about expectations and how strict you want to be with the artists you follow, and how much tracking or work you are ready to do to be consistent about it. This red line is subjective. You can allow artists to be flawed, or disappointing, or bigoted, and it does not mean condoning. Or you don't allow it. In the end, I am not particularly interested in what the Camera Obscura singer thinks about trans rights, at least not any more than anyone in particular, or than any other issue. I do think it's sad if you use your celebrity as a platform to express backward views, and even more if you are militant about it. But an artist is not close enough to me for me to "take action", since I don't see listening to their next album as any form of endorsement of any of her views. Again, I respect people for whom it's a deal breaker when it comes to their attention, whether it's for being personally consistent or because they hope it will have an impact, but I don't see my role as a listener to try to vicariously shut the artist down, that would be militant work imo and more directly achieved with calls to boycott, open letters etc.

Nabozo, Wednesday, 31 January 2024 10:30 (four months ago) link

And just to say, the above is in no way meant to dismiss how trans people are feeling about artists opposing their rights, it's strictly a personal take on what a listener can/should do.

Nabozo, Wednesday, 31 January 2024 10:32 (four months ago) link

available on ltd. 'Peak vinyl'

PaulTMA, Wednesday, 31 January 2024 13:40 (four months ago) link

Agree with Nabozo. Especially when the transgression here seems to be largely a matter of guilt by association.

o. nate, Wednesday, 31 January 2024 15:42 (four months ago) link

idk what TC did, said, or posted, but I vehemently disagree with framing this as a dispute over "trans rights," unless you think the right to "be alive" or receive appropriate medical care is best understood as a civil right

rob, Wednesday, 31 January 2024 15:45 (four months ago) link


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