Camera Obscura

Glasgow’s Camera Obscura have undergone several line-up changes since founder members Tracyanne Campbell and Gavin Dunbar first began rehearsing together back in 1996. Since the amicable departure of Nigel Baillie in 2008, they have existed as a five-piece, with Lee Thomson, Kenny McKeeve and Carey Lander completing the line up.

Having released several low-key indie singles and two full-length studio albums, Biggest Bluest Hi-Fi (2001) and Underachievers Please Try Harder (2003), the band enlisting Swedish producer Jari Haapalainen (Ed Harcourt, Peter, Bjorn & John, The Concretes) to work on their next album, Let’s Get Out Of The Country. Jari turned out to be an inspired choice, fully realising not just the potential of Tracyanne Campbell’s songs and remarkable voice, but also the ensemble musicianship of the group as a whole. The finished album was a confident artistic statement, boasting a more powerful and cohesive sound than any previous Camera Obscura offerings.

Following the widespread recognition that greeted Let’s Get Out of The Country, Camera Obscura signed a worldwide deal with 4AD in 2009. Returning to Sweden once more, fourth album My Maudlin Career again showcased the intuitive relationship the band had developed with Jari, creating a body of refined cinematic indiepop that marked the band’s position in the pop pantheon as anything but deathly. Indeed, 2010 saw the band tour the world, visiting Europe, US, New Zealand, Australia, Japan and Indonesian. If you needed proof of how far the band have come then there it was; a Scottish band not scared to quietly bide their time, playing all over the world, miles away from home, fitting in just fine.

The new album was recorded last December when the band decamped to Portland to work with GRAMMY nominated producer Tucker Martine (R.E.M., Spoon, My Morning Jacket) and pleased with the progress they made there, they returned a month later to finish it. Entitled Desire Lines, it’s now slated for release on June 4th in North America.

Tracyanne Campbell from the band says, “Of all our records this was pretty much the most challenging to write, partly because of the situation we found ourselves in with having to take such a long and uncertain amount of time out, but also because it would be record number five and we were getting harder and harder to please. Working in the US with southern gentleman Tucker Martine was a positive experience. He brought a certain calmness to recording that wasn’t there before. We were also delighted to have Neko Case and Jim James from My Morning Jacket sing on the record too. What a treat."