Song, by Toad

This album is kind of like the last one but with all the creases ironed out.  There’s no soaring pop gem like Hey Lloyd, I’m Ready to be Heartbroken, nor is there anything as heartbreakingly gorgeous as Country Mile, or as gently lovely as Razzle Dazzle Rose.  All you’re left with is pretty, medium-paced croon-pop no real way to latch on and fall in love.

Frankly I was afraid of this.  After their last album I was so impressed that I dug through past singles and b-sides and ended up slightly disappointed.  I am always wary of a group whose b-sides I don’t like, especially when they sound like a flat versions of the stuff which I do.  It seems to me like Camera Obscura might just be a rather ordinary band who happened to hit a purple patch with Let’s Get Out of This Country, rather than a band who are likely to be consistently good over time, sadly.  It would be nice to be proved wrong.

There are a few good moments here, though, and I bet they are still really good live.  Careless Love is probably my favourite song on the album, showing what lovely lyrics they can write and just how beautifully sad Tracyann’s voice can be when she chooses.  Nevertheless, this is an album whose general popularity I just don’t understand.  As Tart says, it makes her long for the return of snarling guitar music.  I love acoustic, folky, gentle stuff, but I’m with her on this.  Records like this make me think that maybe now Mick Harvey has left the Bad Seeds, he could do worse than turn up on stuff like this and try and give it some fucking balls.

Camera Obscura – The Sweetest Thing

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Camera Obscura – Careless Love

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As news, it went somewhat neglected on these pages because of personal Toad ties to Broken Records, but at the same time as they were signing to 4AD, another excellent Scottish band were making the same commitment, and announcing an imminent new album at the same time: Camera Obscura.

Let’s Get Out of This Country was a brilliant album, and I am hugely looking forward to the new record.  Let’s… took me a while to get into, in large part due to opening with the slightly misleadingly infectious Lloyd, I’m Ready to Be Heartbroken.  The rest of the album, for all it was still catchy of course, was a lot warmer and more enveloping than bouncy and poppy.  So having been wrong-footed from the start it took me just a little while to adjust.  I went to see them a year or so ago and, amazingly, Mrs. Toad both accompanied me and really enjoyed it.  I honestly never have any idea when that’s going to happen, the woman’s completely unpredictable.

Anyhow, they have also, in advance of the release, decided to pass on the title track of the album to the rest of us as a teaser, and here is it: My Maudlin Career.  It’s certainly classic Camera Obscura, and both that shimmer of piano that tiptoes its way through the song and the return of Tracyanne’s gorgeous voice fill me with optimism. It’s out on the 20th April.

Camera Obscura – My Maudlin Career

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Camera Obscura – Super Trouper

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And one from Let’s Get Out of This Country:
Camera Obscura – Razzle Dazzle Rose

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