[review] Camera Obscura // My Maudlin Career

camera obscura my maudlin career [review] Camera Obscura // My Maudlin Career

As we usher in the new year, I find myself listening to some of my most loved records from years past that I forced myself to stop listening to after playing them out to death. Every year I perpetuate the seemingly unjust habit of deleting all the music on my computer and settling into a new year with fresh sounds. This is certainly a shame for all the records I skipped over or paid little enough attention to, but I always enjoy coming back to the once overplayed records that I left behind before I focus on the new stuff.

The first that comes to mind is Camera Obscura’s My Maudlin Career, which was the band’s debut on 4AD. Expectations were high after Let’s Get Out of This Country, but My Maudlin Career matched the promise of their first great record. What makes Maudlin stand above Country is the depth of the track list, which features songs that immediately stand out as hits but also (and more importantly) songs that slowly emerge as the impact of the hits fades away.

“French Navy” mirrors the opening salvo of “Lloyd, I’m Ready to Be Heartbroken” from Country. “The Sweetest Thing” keeps the ball rolling with another immediate hit. But it’s on “You Told A Lie” that Maudlin opens up. Tracyanne Campbell sings, “Who was it that said love conquers all?/Oh, he was a fool ‘cause it at all” while the song moves into a bit of a country swing. Not to mention the fact that the lyric “Are my eyes the coldest blue?/You said once that this was true/If it is I don’t know what I’ll do/‘cause I’m stuck with them/and they’re stuck on you” is perhaps the most glaring reason why my ears and imagination fell for her.

“Away With Murder” keeps the country tinge and finds her pronouncing the word “Moider.” Seriously, Scottish girls are just the best! Lyrics again stand out with “People have been traveling miles just to hear us sing/It’s a February night and I don’t want to feel anything/To get away maybe I could sell kisses/In Portland I tried my pretty hand at fishin’.” The joy of Maudlin is that her songwriting and the bands arrangements grew up at the exact same time. Her lyrical approach to love and heartbreak holds a deeper, more nuanced awareness, while the band sounds tighter and holds its ground against sweeping string sections. “Swans” brings this to a head through the interplay between the band and her singing, which reaches ecstatic crescendo after crescendo.

I realize I am dragging this on a bit, but it is such a worthwhile record. The title track has secured itself as my favorite track from the album by knocking “French Navy” down a peg. The country-flared (again!) “Forests & Sands” enjoyed the biggest boost during my second look at the album. “Oh, it feels like none of this is real/I pretend that my heart and my head are well/But if the blood pumping through my veins could freeze/like a river in Toronto then I’d be pleased/You said I made you feel warm/said I made you feel warm inside” is now my favorite lyric on the album.

I like to think of Maudlin as the Dusty Goes To Memphis of my life, so I really enjoying my time listening to it. I’ve said enough, but I strongly recommend checking My Maudlin Career out as we begin 2012.

Camera Obscura // You Told A Lie

Camera Obscura // My Maudlin Career