Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career Vinyl LP 2019

Tracklist:

1. French Navy
2. The Sweetest Thing
3. You Told a Lie
4. Away With Murder
5. Swans
6. James
7. Careless Love
8. My Maudlin Career
9. Forests & Sands
10. Other Towns & Cities
11. Honey in the Sun

Around three years on from Let's Get Out of This Country, the pivotal release that captured the ears and arttention of their audience, Camera Obscura release follow up, My Maudlin Career, their first for 4AD and fourth album overall. And you would be hard-pushed to find an album with as many well-crafted, supremely catchy pop songs as this. Original, yet soothingly familiar, these tunes manage to break your heart and lift you up in equal measure. They're written and sung by Tracyanne Campbell, no sweeter, more believable voice in pop right now. It's like having your best friend singing in your ear, but what she's singing is the pages of her diary!

After his successful touches on their last album, the band returned to Sweden to work again with producer Jari Haapalainen (Ed Harcourt, Peter, Bjorn and John, the Concretes). His wonderful understanding with the band continues to flourish, again fully realising not just the potential of lead singer Tracyanne Campbell's songs and remarkable voice, but also the ensemble musicianship of the group as a whole. The production is perfect too: Concrete’s producer Jari Haapalainen perfectly capturing the old-school indie classicist vibe. Every song's a gem, but the gorgeous slowie 'James' and the euphoric, horn-driven 'Honey In The Sun' deserve a special mention.