You can call off the indie-pop police. Glasgow’s best sextet Camera Obscura have been found and will return with a career-building album called My Maudlin Career on April 21. Phew. The album is their first release in three years (since Let’s Get Out of This Country), their first for new label 4AD, and second recorded in Sweden with Jari Haapalainen. It all adds up to a record that you will be compelled to pick up as soon as you can. The title track is available for download now and can be yours for free if you sign up for the band’s e-mail list. If you are hesitant, you can test drive the song first on their website and MySpace page -- but when dealing with a band as consistently brilliant as Camera Obscura, you know you’re going to love it.
“Some people who have heard it say it’s intense and quite dark,” says lead hand Tracyanne Campbell. “I suppose it is in a way. We were more open and brave when making it than we were with the last record.”
More interesting are Campbell’s thoughts on her lyrics this time around, saying, “I’ve never been so brutal when its come to writing lyrics. I wouldn’t even call them lyrics. Just documentation of what was going on with me for a while.” Considering the girl’s mastery at writing clever and biting verse, we are anxious to see what they have up their sleeves for My Maudlin Career. A single, “French Army,” is due April 13.
My maudlin tracklisting:
1. French Navy
2. The Sweetest Thing
3. You Told a Lie
4. Away with Murder
5. Swans
6. James
7. Careless Love
8. My Maudlin Career
9. Forest and Sands
10. Other Towns and Cities
11. Honey in the Sun
Other towns and cities will see these shows:
03.16.09 - London, England - The Lexington
03.18.09 - Austin TX - Central Presbyterian Church (SXSW)
03.24.09 - Brooklyn, NY - The Bell House
03.25.09 - New York, NY - The Mercury Lounge
04.21.09 - Newcastle, England - Academy 2
04.22.09 - Manchester, England - Club Academy
04.23.09 - London, England - Shepherd’s Bush Empire
04.24.09 - Warwick, England - Warwick Uni Copper Rooms
04.25.09 - Sheffield, England - The Leadmill
04.26.09 - Glasgow, Scotland - Barrowlands Ballroom
04.29.09 - Belfast, Northern Ireland - The Stiff Kitten
04.30.09 - Dublin, Rep. of Ireland - Andrew’s Lane Theatre
07.25.09 - Derbyshire, England - Indietracks Festival
