Like many overly sensitive guys in their (extremely) late 20s, I have a long-distance crush on Camera Obscura lead singer/songwriter Tracyanne Campbell. Yeah, I know I have to get in line, especially after the release of the band’s fourth album, “My Maudlin Career,” which came out in April.
Here’s the band’s official Web site, and here’s its MySpace page, where you can stream a few tracks.
Camera Obscura’s mainstream breakthrough, 2006’s “Let’s Get Out of this Country,” was pleasant, light pop. When Campbell sings “I won’t be seeing you for a long while/I hope it’s not as long as this country mile,” it’s a wave of feeling that sweeps you up. And “Lloyd, I’m Ready to Be Heartbroken” showed the Scottish band’s catchy side.
But a couple tracks on “My Maudlin Career” put Camera Obscura on par with the best work of the Doves, Drudge and Belle & Sebastian with its ability to create an immersive soundscape while also being hookier than ever. These are songs you can live inside of.
Campbell’s songwriting is what you’d expect to find in the diary of an overly sensitive young woman trying to explain the happy-sad feelings of love using the English language. If you combine those words with the language of pop music — particularly ’60s girl group instrumentation and modern studio polish — the message comes through crystal clear.
On “Swans,” about a boy (whom she’s in love with, of course) who’s never been to America, it sounds like the most epic thing ever when Campbell sings: “And you’ve never touched a deer/A deer/A deer/My dear.”
On “Honey in the Sun,” she finds a perfect, bittersweet phrase to describe the feeling of being helplessly in love when, for practical reasons, you’d rather not be: “I wish my heart was as cold as the morning dew/But it’s as warm as saxophones and honey in the sun for you.” It’s an odd lyric on paper, but it totally works.
I’ve found myself jumping to those two tracks a lot, but the whole album sounds good — with Campbell’s cute, accessible voice, she could make something from Nickelback’s catalogue sound pleasant. Bad writing isn’t a problem on “My Maudlin Career,” though, and as of June 2009 I have a new favorite band — and yeah, I know I’m joining a party that already started.