CAMERA OBSCURA is a young band from Glasgow, Scotland, formed by Tracyanne Campbell (main vocals and songwriting), John Henderson (vocals), Gavin Dunbar (bass), Kenny Mckeeve (guitar), Lee Thomson (drums) and Lindsay Boyd (keyboards).
After their first two singles “Park ride” and “Your sound”, released by Scottish label Andmoresound -which is still releasing all the band’s discography in UK- CAMERA OBSCURA started to get some attenti…
CAMERA OBSCURA is a young band from Glasgow, Scotland, formed by Tracyanne Campbell (main vocals and songwriting), John Henderson (vocals), Gavin Dunbar (bass), Kenny Mckeeve (guitar), Lee Thomson (drums) and Lindsay Boyd (keyboards).
After their first two singles “Park ride” and “Your sound”, released by Scottish label Andmoresound -which is still releasing all the band’s discography in UK- CAMERA OBSCURA started to get some attention with their third release, “Eighties fan”. It splendidly defined the sound features of the band: delightful female vocals close to the warmth of Tracey Thorn (EVERYTHING BUT THE GIRL) or Harriet Wheeler (SUNDAYS); acoustic guitars and relaxed moods; an impressive string arrangement and an unforgettable melody. To top it all, the production was signed by Stuart Murdoch, notorious Glasgow neighbour and leader of the essential BELLE AND SEBASTIAN. “Eighties fan” was single of the week in Uk magazine “Record Collector”, and it was heavy airplayed by the likes of John Peel and Steve Lamacq. The band has recorded several sessions for Peel show, one of them accompanied by Welsh band GORKY’S ZYGOTIC MYNCI.
Shortly after came the debut album: “Biggest Bluest Hi-Fi”, that Elefant releases in Spain in March 2002. “Biggest Bluest Hi-Fi” is a superb collection of acoustic pop songs, simple but very moving and beautiful; they could be easily included in that highly praised “new acoustic movement” formed by bands such as I AM KLOOT, or KINGS OF CONVENIENCE. The trace of their friends BELLE AND SEBASTIAN is also easy to find. Stuart Murdoch collaborates again with the string arrangements, subtle but really majestic. The album was engineered by Geoff Allan, who has also worked with other famous Scottish bands such as MOGWAI or TEENAGE FANCLUB. Stuart is also the director of an excellent video for “Eighties fan”.
“Biggest bluest hi-fi” is a soft sound caress, that haunts the listener from the very beginning with the utterly delightful “Happy new year”; this album is an exquisite treat that includes the key elements of best British pop ever. It’s hard to stand one song out of the others, though there are truly distinctive moments like “Anti-western”, featuring a shy country-pop feeling that slips through the guitars and John’s vocals; the trumpets, a very fine string arrangement and the split vocals John-Tracyanne complete this song with some veiled references to some Lee (Hazlewood?) and Nancy (Sinatra?).
Elefant’s version of the album is enhanced by two excellent extra tracks (“Shine a like new pin” and “Let’s go bowling”) which originally appeared in the CD-Single “Eighties fan”.
