CAMERA OBSCURA

Photos: Camera Obscura/The Essex Green [Chicago, IL; 02/03/07]

Rainy-day Glaswegian sextet Camera Obscura charmed the frostbitten, huddled masses this past weekend at Chicago's Logan Square Auditorium-- a venue well-suited for waltzing, to paraphrase lead vocalist Tracyanne Campbell.

Perhaps it was the sub-zero temperatures outside restricting motor activity, but the band (sans trumpet-player Nigel Baillie, who was replaced by multi-instrumentalist and Crescent/Movietone associate Frànçois Marry) stuck to the slower numbers for most of the gig. Campbell herself acknowledged such just before the band turned up the heat, launching into a rousing one-two punch of "Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken" and current single "If Looks Could Kill" to close out the main set.

A glance across the sea of faces revealed smiles galore, and the encore-- during which Campbell invited openers/labelmates the Essex Green and some scattered friends onstage for a campfire clap-along-- felt deserved for once. Hey, anything to delay a return to that ghastly cold.