Customer Reviews

My Maudlin Career

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

After their last album "Let's Get Out Of The Country" achieved breakthrough-of-sorts status thanks to an exceptional lead single, "Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken", the Glasgow indie band now finds itself on the legendary, seminal 4AD label.
The renowned Swedish producer Jari Haapalainen - whose past credits - Peter Bjorn And John, The Concretes, Ed Harcourt - give one an idea of the richly textured soundscapes he can co-create - is back for his second outing with the band, building on the dense production introduced on their third album, which is purely and simply about love.
It starts in a resolutely non-maudlin mode. The upbeat Phil Spector-esque "French Navy", the opening track, is 60s pop with strings, and a vocal echo that lends itself so well to Tracyanne Campbell's voice, sending it ethereal. At times it reminds me of Canadian Jann Arden and American Natalie Merchant of 10,00 Maniacs. The bittersweet song is typical of Campbell's oeuvre in that it's unspeakably lovely, but so delicate it doesn't live long in the memory. Her soft Glaswegian accent and soft, nasal tones suit the fragility and juvenility of a 'he-loves-me-he-loves-me-not' sentimentality.
Elsewhere, there's a blissful summery quality to "The Sweetest Thing", while the country-ish "Away With Murder" showcases the singer's fondness for kitchen-sink realism.
"How many times have you told me you want to die?" she sings. "How many times have you told me that you've tried?". Rarely have lines as sombre been wrapped in a package as pretty.
The Glaswegian outfit deliver their finest outing, with seductive songs such as "Careless Love", sweeping strings and Tracyanne Campbell evoking the spirit of The Shangri-Las over thumping drums on the title track.
"Other Towns And Cities" sounds so authentically vintage it is tempting to blow the dust off to savour the ethereal guitar. The overall feeling of "My Maudlin Career" is one far sunnier that its title may imply. With a collection of eleven heartbreak symphonies and affectingly lilting arrangements, the album offers a nice surprising departure, moving further away from jaunty folk pop and embracing lush balladry.
It feels like a breakthrough, more polished and poised: the result of continuous artistic evolution, without compromising their cuteness or charm.
The album will please the existing fans, but those coming to the band for the first time will find plenty to enjoy.
My favourite tracks: "French Navy", "My Maudlin Career", "The Sweetest Thing", "Other Towns And Cities" and "Honey In The Sun".
Living Thing
Until Tomorrow Then- The Best of Ed Harcourt (2 CDs)
The Concretes
Uncover Me
MTV Unplugged
Let's Get Out of This Country

I'm a relatively new Camera Obscura fan, discovering them only last year. I enjoyed Let's Get Out of This Country and I looked forward to whatever they put out next.

Well here it is, and I'm completely blown away! I was nearly moved to tears at how beautiful these songs are. They're so melodic, lush, layered, and drenched in this warm reverb that instantly evokes nostalgia. Its an effortless, comforting, and touching set of songs that flows perfectly.

Easily one of the best albums I've had the pleasure of listening to. I hope for these guys and gals to be heard and enjoyed by as many people as possible. After unleashing an album of this caliber, they deserve to be carried through the streets. This is their crowning achievement.

That's how good it is, seriously. Buy this now and float away...

An eagerly anticipated album for those of us who have overdone it listening to Let's Get out of This Country. More uptempo than its predecessor, maybe a bit more of a Country flavor here and there. Eloquent, sometimes playful songs of heartache, loss and lonliness. A nostalgic and dreamlike musical atmosphere brought about in part by classic use of reverb and a warm, retro organ sound. Wonderful.

When I first discovered with Camera Obscura with "If Looks Could Kill," I was like most that had heard the album; enchanted. Enter "My Maudlin Career" a strangely titled album that is as enchanting and lite as its predecessors are. The album starts with the sound that I've come to love from the band in "French Navy," which coincidentally is the highlight and first single of the album. It's a lovely and enchanting piece of bliss that even comes out catchy in the end. The same goes for "The Sweetest Thing," which transitions nicely from `Navy.'

From track 3 on, the album starts drifting into a melodic glaze of emotions and sentimentality, floating on mid-tempo, unmemorable, but still good, lite pop tracks. It's not that they're bad; it's just that by themselves, the songs don't hold up, but they sound great while going through the album. Either this will win admiration, or the skip button, depending on your tastes as it makes up the vast majority of the album. In fact, it could be said that the first two tracks were a bone thrown to fans of their earlier work.

Highlights Include:
French Navy
The Sweetest Thing
Honey in the Sun

Overall, one of the finer indie releases of the year, but the turn that the album takes for most of its journey will throw off most. Call it melodic, call it enchanting, engaging, poppy, or call it bliss, just call it Camera Obscura and call it good.

I fell in love with this album just a few days ago. It's a gem. I'm almost embarrassed to admit that "French Navy" makes tears well up in my eyes. Each song shoots straight at my heart with a arrow dipped in a warm, sharp, bittersweet pool of magical poison. The sense of acoustic/physical space and the 'wall of sound' harken less to indie rock then to huge Phil Spector productions of the 1960s and 1970s. I'm especially reminded of George Harrison's "All Things Must Pass." Take the mixed tempos, gorgeous tones, and beautiful melodies, emotively sung and with just the right ornament over the just the right harmony, and you have pop music perfection.

BUT THIS RECORDING RIGHT NOW!

Camera Obscura is good at what they do. Fans of the band and even casual listeners can easily attest to this after the magnum opus that was 06's Let's Get Out Of This Country, where frontwoman Tracyanne Campbell and fellow Scots bandmates gave themselves over to Lloyd Cole and looked very much like the successors to Belle & Sebastian's eminently catchy brand of twee-pop. It becomes clear right out of the gate that, with My Maudlin Career, their success has in no way put a damper on their talents - Campbell still has that slightly accented purr down pat, a sexy and sweet mix between Jenny Lewis and Victoria Bergsman, and the band's orchestrated `60s pop/folk keeps chugging cheerfully along no matter how downcast Campbell sounds.

And make no mistake about it; My Maudlin Career is a darker record than Country, although you wouldn't know it from the delightful opener and first single "French Navy." Where countrymen Belle & Sebastian made their mark via clever turns of phrase and sly, smart lyrical conventions, Camera Obscura are romantics at heart, using a bouncy string-backed beat to frame convictions of love like "I was waiting to be struck by lightning / waiting for somebody exciting" before bursting into a four-on-the-floor chorus replete with arching, ascending strings as a yearning Campbell sings "I wanted to control it / but love, I couldn't hold it." It's the catchiest, most straightforward song on the record, the band's corollary to Country's excellent "Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken." Obscura's well-toned pop hooks are sunk even deeper on the following "The Sweetest Thing," where the contrast between Campbell's heartsick lyrics and the upbeat, sing-a-long chorus is highlighted and makes a deceptively simple song into a thing of tragic beauty.

The band pumps the brakes a bit on the following tunes, starting with the country-flavored question of "You Told A Lie" and continuing with the atmospheric melancholy balladry of "Away With Murder." Campbell is alternately scathing and self-deprecating, asking "are my eyes the coldest blue?" and then singing worriedly "I don't know what I'll do / cause I'm stuck with them / and they're stuck on you" on the former. "Away With Murder," meanwhile, coats itself in layers of echoes and gentle acoustic accompaniment while Campbell bemoans "I've been lonely too, like you / I'm just like you" along a tale of hard touring.

While songs like the jangly pop of "Swans" and the elegant guitar-vocal interplay of closer "Honey In The Sun" prove that the band long ago knew how to craft a brilliant hook and that the production is generally spot-on, it's songs like the understated "Away With Murder" and the powerful emotion of "James" that truly make My Maudlin Career shine. Camera Obscura are at their best when Campbell is using the full range of her vocals, evoking a variety of feelings while carrying the melody while the band's arrangements take a back seat. Even when the lyrics don't match the strength of the music, such as on the tear-in-your-beer country misery of "Forest and Sands," it's Campbell's ability to carry a tune and connect that make up for any missteps.

Occasionally the band drop a dud that even Campbell can't save, like the inadvisable faux-acapella of "Other Towns & Cities," a sparse combo of dreamy guitar and reverb-soaked vocals that goes nowhere and stays there. And while songs like the title track, where Campbell croons "this maudlin career has come to an island / I don't want to be sad again" might make one think she's had enough of all this singing about heartbreak, it only takes one listen to the expertly crafted layers of "Honey In The Sun" and its bombastic, joyous horn section to put one at ease. Despite all of Campbell's attempts to "become as cold as ice," Camera Obscura is still a band reveling in the ability of bright, warm chamber-pop to dispel away the gloom.

Camera Obscura are back. Working again with producer Jari Haapalainen. Picking up pretty much where they left off. Single "French Navy" starts in a dusty library, where Tracyanne Campbell sings "I was waiting to be struck by lightning/Waiting for somebody exciting/Like you." In the world of Camera Obscura, of course, love is impossible to control and you don't have to be called Lloyd to break somebody's heart. "The Sweetest Thing" is a girl-group ballad with a Scottish accent. Title track "My Maudlin Career" sounds like a throwback ("I'm not a child I know/We're not going steady...") to the classic "Teenager" from breakout album "Underachievers Please Try Harder" ("You're not a teenager/So don't act like one..."). It seems perhaps MY MAUDLIN CAREER is not about reflecting sentimentally on the career of global twee-pop superstars. It's about the folly of wishing and hoping in dusty libraries -- and the after effects of being struck by romantic lightning. Of course, being an international recording artist might come into play too. "Let's Get Out of the Country" may have been a great career move. But it means that former lovers are left behind in "Other Towns & Cities." Hotel rooms make a great place to get truly maudlin ("Drinking whisky reminds me of you... Who's holding you tonight?") The sun comes up again (in Mexico City) on bouncy final track "Honey in the Sun." If you enjoyed getting out of the country with these Glaswegians last time around, you'll be delighted to rejoin the band on its musical journey.

This is a terrific album, brimming with lovely, poppy melodies and poignant lyrics. Lead singer Tracyanne Campbell is blessed with a voice you're sure to fall in love with, but your heart will ache for her, as the songs (all written by Ms. Campbell) portray a distressing inability to find lasting love. With each listen, I find myself in a deeper melancholy trance. Through it all, the band displays its talents, with memorable guitar licks and superb, understated keyboards. This album deserves heavy airplay.

This is a group and a CD I bought entirely off the samples. Something about it seemed to work and, after playing the tracks many times, the songs do work. There's is something retro about the songs, almost like the 50's, but with a 'modern' lushness. The lyrics are catchy, but not trivial.

I have many of Camera Obscura's albums but I feel this one reaches a far greater audience, and is a fine mix of love struck ballads and fast paced catchy tunes: Honey in the Sun, The Sweetest Thing..simply lovely.