Camera Obscura

My Maudlin Career

(4AD)

Record Review by Alex Pudlin

Camera Obscura’s fourth full-length record, My Maudlin Career, begins abruptly, with two jangly chords and Tracyanne Campbell purring out, “spent a week in a dusty library, waiting for some words to jump at me.” If you’re not immediately grabbed by that sort of wry, nerdy observation, then save yourself the time of reading this evaluation, because you won’t like the record.  For the rest of you with hearts, you’ll be happy to know that My Maudlin Career’s winning combination of clever lyrics, soulful vocals and vibrant arrangements ensure that it should have a place on many “best of” lists this year. Indeed, Glasgow’s other precious rock band (as in, the one that’s not Belle and Sebastian) has crafted their most irresistible album to date.

Album opener “French Navy” doesn’t have the immediate draw of Let’s Get Out of This Country’s brilliant “Lloyd, I’m Ready to be Heartbroken,” but it nonetheless starts the record off on a relatively catchy note. However, whereas the rest of Let’s Get Out of This Country failed to live up the heights promised by “Lloyd,” “French Navy” serves as a launching pad for a consistent collection of songs that work best as a unit. Not coincidentally, most of the tunes here deal with love, boy drama and other thrilling romantic escapades. Whereas some singers’ lyrics and delivery can render such topics trite and tired, Campbell sings her lovelorn tales with such delightful sincerity that you’ll yearn for the days that you had to tell an ex that you couldn’t be just friends. It also helps that Campbell may have the best accent in music right now. Just check out the way she sings “murder” as “mudder” on  the reverb-drenched “Away with Murder.” Priceless.

Thankfully My Maudlin Career relies on far more than Campbell’s many charms, most notably some damn solid musicianship and production. On “You Told A Lie,” the Obscuras add dreamy layers of pizzicato strings and chimes to the track’s country shuffle. At the other extreme, album closer “Honey in the Sun” blares out like the handiwork of recently convicted madman Phil Spector, circa All Things Must Pass. The rest of the record varies evenly between melancholy and celebration: from another Glaswegian take on country (“Forest and Sands”) on one hand to a tom-tom thumping slide guitar anthem (“Swans”) on the other.

Whether it’s Hollywood worthy string sweeps (“Careless Love”) or girl groups (“French Navy”), Camera Obscura effectively repurpose a bevy of American sounds on My Maudlin Career to fit their needs. All the while, Tracyanne Campbell and company come off as the perfect bunch of folks to spend 45 minutes with, even if the songs all deal with romantic longing. Ah, nothing like the Scots to make it all sound so fun and exquisite.