I normally don’t like to write about well established bands but after the 5th listen through the new Camera Obscura My Maudlin Career I felt like I just couldn’t NOT write about this album. It’s been 3 years since Let’s Get Out Of This Country which, once the opening notes of “Llyod, I’m Ready to be Heartbroken” burst forth from my speakers and embedded itself in my soul, became my soundtrack for the year… and most of the next (yes that was a ridiculous sentence but, whatever, it’s true). So I’ve been anticipating this new album with cautious optimism. CO has, with each new album, working it’s way away from the Belle & Sebastian-esque sound that seems to plague so many half-decent indie-pop-twee bands. Let’s Get Out Of This Country was a good step by adding some power to the heart wrenching pop CO does so well but B&S just happened to then release their popiest album yet that same year (The Life Pursuit).

But if there was any question about CO being a wanna be B&S, I’m pretty sure all but the most pretentious haters will fall silent after hearing My Maudlin Career. What has CO done in 3 years? Apparently they invented a time machine which they then used to go back to the late 1950s and pick off some producers and orchestras. You like strings that bring you to the brink of tears? Check. You want more horns than Manhattan gridlock at rush hour? Done. Wonder what happened to Phil Spector? Apparently he was abducted by the band using their time machine (which via some crazy LOST logic would cause him to go crazy later in life.) Oh, and can we talk about Tracyanne Campbell’s voice? I mean, she’s always been pretty good at sounding like a scorned teenager (circa 1967) but with MMC she is showing that in the last 3 years she has gained some serious power and maturity in her voice (like, holy-crap-where-did-that-come-from, power).

The thing about me is that I like things that are big; gigantically huge even. I like to feel something so much larger than me stand over me and make me feel small. I usually refer to architecture this way but it equally apply to music and MMC certainly creates such a sound, one that arches up like a tsunami of sound and breaks over me in a wash of heartbreak and angst.

Finally, would you look at that cover? I mean… daaaaaamn, I’m speechless. Best album art of the year? If it ain’t in the top 5 by December there is gonna be hell to pay.

Camera Obscura – My Maudlin Career

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