Camera Obscura (band)
Encyclopedia
Camera Obscura are an indie pop
band from Glasgow
, Scotland
. The band formed in 1996 and have released four albums to date.
" and "Your Sound" in 1998. The band's line-up changed in 2000 and 2001 when Lee Thompson joined as its permanent drummer, Lindsay Boyd joined as a keyboard player, and Skirving left and was replaced by Kenny McKeeve.
Camera Obscura's first album, Biggest Bluest Hi Fi
, was released in 2001. The album was produced by Stuart Murdoch
of Belle & Sebastian
and was supported by John Peel
. The first single from the album, "Eighties Fan", came in at number eight in the Festive Fifty
in 2001, and charted in several independent music charts. Nigel Baillie joined the band as a trumpeter and percussionist in 2002 and Carey Lander replaced Boyd. In the summer of 2002, Peel asked the band to do their first Peel session.
The band's second album, Underachievers Please Try Harder
, was released in 2003 and was followed by Camera Obscura's first full tour of Britain and Ireland
and the band's first tour of the United States
. Founding member John Henderson left Camera Obscura following this tour. In early 2004 the band recorded the songs "I Love My Jean" and "Red, Red Rose" following their third Peel session, in which Peel had asked them to put these poems by Robert Burns
to music.
Camera Obscura recorded their third album, Let's Get Out of This Country
, in Sweden during 2005. The album was produced by Jari Haapalainen
and was released on June 6, 2006. The title song was featured in episode 5 of the Friday Night Lights
. The first single, "Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken", is a response
to Lloyd Cole and the Commotions
' song "Are You Ready to Be Heartbroken?".
In November 2008, the band announced that they had completed recording the follow-up to Let's Get Out of This Country, and in February 2009, they announced that they had signed to 4AD
. The new album, My Maudlin Career
, was released in April 2009, and preceded by the first single "French Navy". London jewellery brand Tatty Devine created brooches and necklaces to coincide with the launch. Around this time, the band announced that "due to family commitments (including being a proud dad) Nigel will no longer be a full time member of Camera Obscura".
On April 18, 2009 Camera Obscura released a special edition Record Store Day
7” called, French Navy for independent record stores.
Indie pop
Indie pop is a genre of alternative rock music that originated in the United Kingdom in the mid 1980s, with its roots in the Scottish post-punk bands on the Postcard Records label in the early '80s, such as Orange Juice, Josef K and Aztec Camera, and the dominant UK independent band of the mid...
band from Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. The band formed in 1996 and have released four albums to date.
History
Camera Obscura were formed in 1996 by Tracyanne Campbell, John Henderson, and Gavin Dunbar. Several other members performed with the band before David Skirving joined as a permanent guitarist. The band's first releases were the singles "Park and RidePark and Ride (single)
Park and Ride is a single released in 1997 by Camera Obscura....
" and "Your Sound" in 1998. The band's line-up changed in 2000 and 2001 when Lee Thompson joined as its permanent drummer, Lindsay Boyd joined as a keyboard player, and Skirving left and was replaced by Kenny McKeeve.
Camera Obscura's first album, Biggest Bluest Hi Fi
Biggest Bluest Hi Fi
Biggest Bluest Hi-Fi is the debut LP from the indie pop band Camera Obscura. It was released in 2001 by Andmoresound and in 2002 by Elefant, then re-released in 2004 by Merge.-Reception:...
, was released in 2001. The album was produced by Stuart Murdoch
Stuart Murdoch (musician)
Stuart Lee Murdoch is a Scottish musician, and the lead singer and songwriter for the indie pop band Belle & Sebastian. The majority of his childhood was spent a stone's throw from the birthplace of Robert Burns in Alloway, Ayr until he left school and attended university in...
of Belle & Sebastian
Belle & Sebastian
Belle and Sebastian are an indie pop band formed in Glasgow in January 1996. Belle and Sebastian are often compared with influential indie bands such as The Smiths, as well as classic acts such as Love, Bob Dylan and Nick Drake. The name Belle & Sebastian comes from Belle et Sébastien, a 1965...
and was supported by John Peel
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE , known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004...
. The first single from the album, "Eighties Fan", came in at number eight in the Festive Fifty
Festive Fifty
The Festive Fifty was originally an annual list of the year's fifty best songs compiled at the end of the year and voted for by listeners to John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show...
in 2001, and charted in several independent music charts. Nigel Baillie joined the band as a trumpeter and percussionist in 2002 and Carey Lander replaced Boyd. In the summer of 2002, Peel asked the band to do their first Peel session.
The band's second album, Underachievers Please Try Harder
Underachievers Please Try Harder
Underachievers Please Try Harder is the second LP from the indie band Camera Obscura, released in 2004. The album was released in Australia by Popfrenzy.-Reception:...
, was released in 2003 and was followed by Camera Obscura's first full tour of Britain and Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
and the band's first tour of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Founding member John Henderson left Camera Obscura following this tour. In early 2004 the band recorded the songs "I Love My Jean" and "Red, Red Rose" following their third Peel session, in which Peel had asked them to put these poems by Robert Burns
Robert Burns
Robert Burns was a Scottish poet and a lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, and is celebrated worldwide...
to music.
Camera Obscura recorded their third album, Let's Get Out of This Country
Let's Get Out of This Country
Let's Get Out of This Country is the third LP from the indie pop band Camera Obscura.It was produced by Jari Haapalainen of The Bear Quartet. "Lloyd, I'm Ready to be Heartbroken" was played over the opening credits of the film P.S...
, in Sweden during 2005. The album was produced by Jari Haapalainen
Jari Haapalainen
Jari Haapalainen, born 1971 in Luleå, is a Swedish musician, songwriter and producer. He currently resides in a cottage in Tumba outside Stockholm...
and was released on June 6, 2006. The title song was featured in episode 5 of the Friday Night Lights
Friday Night Lights (TV series)
Friday Night Lights is an American sports drama television series adapted by Peter Berg, Brian Grazer and David Nevins from a book and film of the same name. The series details events surrounding a high school football team based in fictional Dillon, Texas, with particular focus given to team...
. The first single, "Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken", is a response
Answer song
An answer song is, as the name suggests, a song made in answer to a previous song, normally by another artist. It is also known as a response song. The concept became widespread in blues and R&B recorded music in the 1930s through 1950s...
to Lloyd Cole and the Commotions
Lloyd Cole and the Commotions
Lloyd Cole and the Commotions were a British pop band that formed in Glasgow, Scotland in 1982. Between 1984 and 1989, the band scored four Top 20 albums and five Top 40 singles in the UK...
' song "Are You Ready to Be Heartbroken?".
In November 2008, the band announced that they had completed recording the follow-up to Let's Get Out of This Country, and in February 2009, they announced that they had signed to 4AD
4AD
4AD is a British independent record label that was started in 1979 by Ivo Watts-Russell and Peter Kent, funded by Beggars Banquet Records, and is still active today...
. The new album, My Maudlin Career
My Maudlin Career
My Maudlin Career is the fourth studio album by the Scottish indie pop band Camera Obscura. The album was released in April 2009 via 4AD and, like its predecessor, was produced by Jari Haapalainen of The Bear Quartet...
, was released in April 2009, and preceded by the first single "French Navy". London jewellery brand Tatty Devine created brooches and necklaces to coincide with the launch. Around this time, the band announced that "due to family commitments (including being a proud dad) Nigel will no longer be a full time member of Camera Obscura".
On April 18, 2009 Camera Obscura released a special edition Record Store Day
Record Store Day
Record Store Day is an internationally celebrated day observed the third Saturday of April each year. Its purpose, as conceived by independent record store employee Chris Brown, is to celebrate the art of music...
7” called, French Navy for independent record stores.
Current
- Tracyanne Campbell – guitar, vocals
- Carey Lander – piano, organ, vocals
- Kenny McKeeve – guitar, mandolin, harmonica, vocals
- Gavin Dunbar – bass
- Lee Thomson – drums
Former
- Nigel Baillie – trumpet, percussion
- John Henderson (1996–2004) – vocals, percussion
- Richard Colburn – drums
- David Skirving – vocals, guitar
- Lindsay Boyd – keyboards
Live Players
- Nigel Baillie - trumpet, percussion
- Tim Cronin – trumpet, percussion
- Francois Marry - trumpet, percussion, guitar
Albums
| Year | Album details | Peak chart positions | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart... |
IRE Irish Albums Chart The Irish Albums Chart is the Irish music industry standard albums popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on its behalf by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured electronically... |
USA Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
|||||||||||||||||
| 2001 | Biggest Bluest Hi Fi Biggest Bluest Hi Fi Biggest Bluest Hi-Fi is the debut LP from the indie pop band Camera Obscura. It was released in 2001 by Andmoresound and in 2002 by Elefant, then re-released in 2004 by Merge.-Reception:...
|
— | — | — | |||||||||||||||
| 2003 | Underachievers Please Try Harder Underachievers Please Try Harder Underachievers Please Try Harder is the second LP from the indie band Camera Obscura, released in 2004. The album was released in Australia by Popfrenzy.-Reception:... Elefant Records Elefant Records is an independent record label based in Spain. Elefant records was founded in 1989 by Luis Calvo as an offshoot of a fanzine he produced called "La Línea Del Arco"... (ER-1104) (Europe) Merge Merge Records Merge Records is an independent record label based in Durham, North Carolina. It was founded in 1989 by Laura Ballance and Mac McCaughan. It began as a way to release music from their band Superchunk and music created by friends, and has expanded to include artists from around the world and records... (MRG239) (North America) Compact Disc The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,... , LP LP album The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry... , DL Music download A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment... |
— | — | — | |||||||||||||||
| 2006 | Let's Get Out of This Country Let's Get Out of This Country Let's Get Out of This Country is the third LP from the indie pop band Camera Obscura.It was produced by Jari Haapalainen of The Bear Quartet. "Lloyd, I'm Ready to be Heartbroken" was played over the opening credits of the film P.S... Merge Records Merge Records is an independent record label based in Durham, North Carolina. It was founded in 1989 by Laura Ballance and Mac McCaughan. It began as a way to release music from their band Superchunk and music created by friends, and has expanded to include artists from around the world and records... (MRG276) (North America) Elefant Elefant Records Elefant Records is an independent record label based in Spain. Elefant records was founded in 1989 by Luis Calvo as an offshoot of a fanzine he produced called "La Línea Del Arco"... (ER-1123) (Europe) Compact Disc The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,... , 2CD, LP LP album The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry... , DL Music download A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment... |
125 | — | — | |||||||||||||||
| 2009 | My Maudlin Career My Maudlin Career My Maudlin Career is the fourth studio album by the Scottish indie pop band Camera Obscura. The album was released in April 2009 via 4AD and, like its predecessor, was produced by Jari Haapalainen of The Bear Quartet... 4AD 4AD is a British independent record label that was started in 1979 by Ivo Watts-Russell and Peter Kent, funded by Beggars Banquet Records, and is still active today... (CAD 2907) Compact Disc The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,... , LP LP album The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry... , DL Music download A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment... |
32 | 37 | 87 | |||||||||||||||
| "—" denotes a release that did not chart or was not issued in that region. | |||||||||||||||||||
Singles
| Song | Release date | Release info | Formats | UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
Album |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Park and Ride Park and Ride (single) Park and Ride is a single released in 1997 by Camera Obscura.... " |
2 March 1998 | Andmoresound (and 09) | 7" vinyl | — | Non-album single |
| "Your Sound" | 14 December 1998 | Andmoresound (and 11) | CD, 7" vinyl | — | |
| "Eighties Fan" | 25 June 2001 | Andmoresound (and 16) | CD, 7" vinyl | — | Biggest Bluest Hi Fi |
| "Teenager" | 26 May 2003 | Elefant (ER-352) | CD | 182 | Underachievers Please Try Harder |
| "Keep It Clean" | 28 June 2004 | Elefant (ER-355) | CD | — | |
| "I Love My Jean" | 21 March 2005 | Elefant (ER-358) | CD, 7" vinyl | 101 | Non-album single |
| "Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken" | 15 May 2006 | Elefant (ER-362) | CD, 7" vinyl | 124 | Let's Get Out of This Country |
| "Let's Get Out of This Country" | 11 September 2006 | Elefant (ER-364) | CD, 7" vinyl | 144 | |
| "If Looks Could Kill" | 29 January 2007 | Elefant (ER-366) | CD, 7" vinyl | 191 | |
| "Tears for Affairs" | 23 April 2007 | Elefant (ER-368) | CD, 7" vinyl | — | |
| "French Navy" | 13 April 2009 | 4AD (AD 2912) | CD, 7" vinyl | 141 | My Maudlin Career |
| "Honey in the Sun" | August 2009 | 4AD | Promo-only CDR | — | |
| "The Sweetest Thing" | 2 November 2009 | 4AD (AD 2926) | 7" vinyl | — | |
| "The Blizzard" / "Swans" | 7 December 2009 | 4AD (AD 2937) | 7" vinyl | — | |
| "The Nights Are Cold" | 17 May 2010 | 4AD (AD 3X25) | 7" vinyl | — | Non-album single |
| "—" denotes a release that did not chart. | |||||
Other contributions
- Acoustic 07Acoustic 07Acoustic 07 is a 2-disc compilation album, released under V2 Records in the United Kingdom on March 12, 2007. The collection is the seventh of V2 Records' popular Acoustic series.-Track listing:Disc 1#"Lovestain", performed by José González...
(2007, V2 RecordsV2 RecordsV2 Records is a record label that is owned by Universal Music Group as of October 2007. The label was founded in 1996 by Richard Branson, five years after he sold Virgin Records to EMI....
) - "Let's Get Out of This Country" - The Saturday Sessions: The Dermot O'Leary ShowThe Saturday Sessions: The Dermot O'Leary ShowThe Saturday Sessions: The Dermot O'Leary Show is a 2-disc compilation album of BBC Radio 2 popular music recordings, released in the United Kingdom in July 2007...
(2007, EMIEMIThe EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
) - "Super TrouperSuper Trouper (song)-A-Teens version:"Super Trouper" was A-Teens' second single from their 1st album The ABBA Generation, a cover of ABBA's song. When the single came out in the fall of 1999, it became a hit around the globe, just as its predecessor "Mamma Mia", also an ABBA cover...
"