New Music: Camera Obscura: "Super Trouper" [Stream] / "Tears for Affairs" [Video]

The song that provided ABBA with their last UK No. 1 makes a fitting B-side to Camera Obscura's latest single. No idea how they chose to cover it, but maybe the lyrics-- where the singer's partner calls from CO's hometown of Glasgow-- attracted the band to it. Camera Obscura's melancholy take on "Super Trouper" follows the spirit of the original, if not its sound. ABBA often hid heartache inside dancefloor-ready pop but CO wears its hurt with some small pride. The track is named for a type of spotlight, but lead singer Tracyanne Campbell would prefer the shadows: "Facing 20,000 of your friends/ How can anyone be so lonely?" she sings, and she sounds so sullen she could melt into the floor. Still: "somewhere in the crowd there's you."

[from Tears for Affairs single; due 04/16/07 on Elefant Records]

 
The band also recently released a video for Let's Get Out of This Country [Merge]'s "Tears for Affairs". Here they perform the single on a few years' worth of faux 1960s television shows. Occasionally you catch the edges of a television screen, and the darkness bordering the frame can make you feel like a lonely insomniac watching old variety shows.

Posted by Jessica Suarez on Tue: 04-03-07