Camera Obscura

I don't remember how I learnt (they're Scottish, so I Used the the British spelling) of Camera Obscura. I'm sure it was Belle and Sebastian related. I immediately liked some of their songs, but others I just didn't get. My early experience with them falls into the mp3 category that is to say I heard about them and then downloaded whatever I could find. This must have been in 2003. So, basically I had Camera Obscura songs with no tie to an album. I'm pretty sure that the first song I heard from them was Suspended From Class off of Underachievers Please Try Harder. I also had some songs from Biggest Bluest Hi-Fi, but like I said it all felt very nebulous and vague. But then Let's Get Out of This Country (LGOTC) came along and changed everything. Suddenly I cared about the songs that was listening to. Once I got LGOTC under my belt, the other albums fell into place.

Shortly after LGOTC came out, I got to see them in concert. I had not enjoyed a show like that since the first time I saw The Butchies, completely different style. I'll tell you about them one day when you're a little older. They were, as the AMG review of LGOTC (I'm getting tired of typing that) suggests, enchanting. The show was a lot of fun just like the album. The opening song, Lloyd I'm Ready to Be Hartbroken, is perfect in that position. The video for the song, which I linked to back there does such a great job of capturing the fell of the song. On the other side of things, they couldn't have created a better close to the album then Razzle Dazzle Rose. They closed the show with it and it was amazing. I've linked to a live version, which does it justice, more or less. The vocals could have been a little louder, but I hope you get the idea.

They have always been compared to fellow Glaswegians, Belle and Sebastian. I'm a huge fan of Belle and I have to agree that there are a lot of similarities beyond just the spatial. I guess Underachievers was often compared to If You're Felling Sinister by Belle. It's pretty apt, but I agree with AMG that LGOTC is an album that has put them on the same level as Belle and Sebastian. Anyway, they're a great band and I highly recommend getting to know them.

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