Camera Obscura

I’ve always liked Camera Obscura, but only to a certain point. I thought their last album, ‘Underachievers Please Try Harder’ was a fun record, but never quite had that final something to make it into a really great one. This has always been their only problem to me. I can’t put my finger on exactly what it is, but there’s always been something lacking.

So I went into the new songs from their upcoming release, ‘Let’s Get Out Of This Country’, which much the same attitude. I expected some fun pop songs, but nothing stunning. I was pleasantly surprised though that some of these songs have quickly joined my rough list of favourites for this year. Their sound seems tighter than it did before, each song more focused, and the lyrics have moved up a level too. There’s a lyrical wit amongst some of these songs that didn’t exist in previous releases, and I certainly welcome it.

The title track from that album is simply a great song. Sounding like a country tinged 60s pop classic, it works perfectly as a taster for the upcoming album and as a song in it’s own right. Traceyanne’s vocals have seemingly added an element of quiet desperation to the usual sense of melancoly, giving this song a sadder sound than it really should have.

MP3 – Let’s Get Out Of This Country (expired)

‘Let’s Get Out Of This Country’ will be released on June 6 on Merge Records in the US, and Elefant in Europe. As usual, more Camera Obscure goodness can be found on their website and Myspace. And just to prove that they are even cooler than all those other bands, they even have a blog!

Hey you! Buy a shirt!

The ultra cool kids amongst you will already know this, but Threadless is running one of it’s $10 t-shirt sales again, which given the quality of their shirts, is pretty close to just giving them away. I just ordered myself the classic ‘Dark Side of the Garden’ shirt, but there’s something there for everyone, so get over there and find one before they put the price back up again or they run out.