Camera Obscura:
Desire Lines:
4AD:
Out Now:
8/10
Since unleashing what has become something of a breakthrough signature tune for the Scots, the charming swoonsome 2006 single Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken and, for that matter, its resultant parent-album Let's Get Out Of This Country, Camera Obscura have been growing up fast without compromising quality over quantity.
Desire Lines is their fifth album in twelve years and their second for 4AD, who presumably signed them on the strength of their work on the smaller Elefant Records imprint. Both label and band should be mightily pleased with how things have gone so far - 2009's My Maudlin Career earned them some sold-out tours, their most consistent material and a Top 40 placing. Clearly, the rest of the kingdom was starting to wake up to the charms of Tracyanne Campbell's heartfelt vignettes by the time the gorgeous The Sweetest Thing appeared on radio, not least Richard Hawley who remixed the track for the b-side of their cover of his own (and beautiful) The Nights Are Cold.
Eschewing familiar surroundings, the band recorded Desire Lines in Portland, Oregon with a couple of key guests, My Morning Jacket's Jim James and The New Pornographer's vocalist Neko Case. The result is a more languid listening experience, less of the retroisms of their previous albums and more in the way of a restrained, softer interplay between '70s soft-rock and '90s indie-pop. New Year's Resolution is the perfect example of this - a world-weary Campbell intones "All I ever wanted was someone to rely on" with guitar riffery and Britpop despair not heard since Echobelly's under-rated Dark Therapy or Cocteau Twins' Evangeline.
While there are plenty of songs to prompt copious consumption of wine with a car-load of Kleenex to hand, there are bright moments too. Do It Again is basically the bounciest puppy in the litter and hints at carnal satisfaction ("you were insatiable/I was more than capable"), while I Missed Your Party gets all brassy throughout as Campbell proffers her apologies, declaring that "Bourbon won't kill it/I'll just have to will it" before playing Billy Joel and (gulp) watching Flashdance again. Again? I'd rather staple my eyelids to a fence-post...
Break It To You Gently is this album's best tune, a nod to the band's hallmark homage to all things retro and vintage, a crowd-pleaser and, in a parallel universe, a hit. The concluding title-track is perhaps the most 'Portland', jammed to the gills with pedal-steel and the merest hint of country ballad about it - it's bloody lush. Lush - there's another band who recorded a 'Desire Lines' for the same label some nineteen years ago. I'd almost forgotten about that. I won't forget about this. Lovely album.
Desire Lines:
4AD:
Out Now:
8/10
Desire Lines is their fifth album in twelve years and their second for 4AD, who presumably signed them on the strength of their work on the smaller Elefant Records imprint. Both label and band should be mightily pleased with how things have gone so far - 2009's My Maudlin Career earned them some sold-out tours, their most consistent material and a Top 40 placing. Clearly, the rest of the kingdom was starting to wake up to the charms of Tracyanne Campbell's heartfelt vignettes by the time the gorgeous The Sweetest Thing appeared on radio, not least Richard Hawley who remixed the track for the b-side of their cover of his own (and beautiful) The Nights Are Cold.
Eschewing familiar surroundings, the band recorded Desire Lines in Portland, Oregon with a couple of key guests, My Morning Jacket's Jim James and The New Pornographer's vocalist Neko Case. The result is a more languid listening experience, less of the retroisms of their previous albums and more in the way of a restrained, softer interplay between '70s soft-rock and '90s indie-pop. New Year's Resolution is the perfect example of this - a world-weary Campbell intones "All I ever wanted was someone to rely on" with guitar riffery and Britpop despair not heard since Echobelly's under-rated Dark Therapy or Cocteau Twins' Evangeline.
While there are plenty of songs to prompt copious consumption of wine with a car-load of Kleenex to hand, there are bright moments too. Do It Again is basically the bounciest puppy in the litter and hints at carnal satisfaction ("you were insatiable/I was more than capable"), while I Missed Your Party gets all brassy throughout as Campbell proffers her apologies, declaring that "Bourbon won't kill it/I'll just have to will it" before playing Billy Joel and (gulp) watching Flashdance again. Again? I'd rather staple my eyelids to a fence-post...
Break It To You Gently is this album's best tune, a nod to the band's hallmark homage to all things retro and vintage, a crowd-pleaser and, in a parallel universe, a hit. The concluding title-track is perhaps the most 'Portland', jammed to the gills with pedal-steel and the merest hint of country ballad about it - it's bloody lush. Lush - there's another band who recorded a 'Desire Lines' for the same label some nineteen years ago. I'd almost forgotten about that. I won't forget about this. Lovely album.
