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Camera Obscura
Camera Obscura performing in 2005
Background information
Origin	Glasgow, Scotland
Genres	Indie pop
Years active	1996–2015 2018–present
Labels	4AD Andmoresound Elefant Merge
Members	Tracyanne Campbell Gavin Dunbar Kenny McKeeve Lee Thomson Donna Maciocia
Past members	Carey Lander John Henderson Richard Colburn David Skirving Lindsay Boyd Nigel Baillie
Website	camera-obscura.net

Camera Obscura are a Scottish indie pop band from Glasgow. The group formed in 1996, and have released six studio albums to date. Led by primary singer and songwriter Tracyanne Campbell, the band consists of guitarist/vocalist Kenny McKeeve, bassist Gavin Dunbar, and drummer Lee Thomson. Following the death of long-serving keyboardist Carey Lander, the band went on hiatus from 2015 to 2018. After reuniting in 2019 and adding Donna Maciocia as a permanent member, Camera Obscura released their first new album in 11 years, Look to the East, Look to the West, to critical acclaim.

The band's music has been frequently described as "twee pop", and garnered comparisons to fellow Scottish band Belle and Sebastian. The band have also been praised for their "honest, wide, and adult approach to heartbreak, romantic liaisons, and escapism".

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. Their first releases were the singles "Park and Ride" and "Your Sound" in 1998. The band's line-up changed in 2000 and 2001 when Lee Thomson 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 tracks Eighties Fan and Anti-Western were 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 Great 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 over the course of two weeks with producer Jari Haapalainen. The album was released on 6 June 2006. The first single, "Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken", is an answer song to Lloyd Cole and the Commotions' song "Are You Ready to Be Heartbroken?"; it appears during the opening credits of the 2007 film, P.S. I Love You. The title song was featured in episode 5 of Friday Night Lights.

In February 2009 the band announced they had signed with 4AD. The new album, My Maudlin Career, was released in April 2009, and preceded by the first single "French Navy". London-based jewellery brand Tatty Devine created brooches and necklaces to coincide with the launch. The album was the band's first UK Top 40 success, and it also reached the top 40 in Ireland and the US Billboard 200. 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 18 April 2009, Camera Obscura released a special edition Record Store Day 7" called "French Navy" for independent record stores. "French Navy" was also used by Echo Falls, who are the sponsors of Come Dine with Me, at the start of each episode and during commercial breaks. Their album Desire Lines was produced by Tucker Martine and released by 4AD on 3 June 2013.

In 2015, the band cancelled planned gigs in North America due to the illness of Carey Lander. She was first diagnosed with osteosarcoma in 2011. She announced in 2015 that it had returned. Lander set up a JustGiving page for Sarcoma UK in order to raise awareness to the illness and lack of funding for research and treatment, and as of August 2024, the sum of donations is over £103,000. Carey Lander died on 11 October 2015.

In May 2018, while Campbell was promoting the self-titled debut album of Tracyanne & Danny, her new project with Danny Coughlan, she noted that she still kept in touch with the other members of Camera Obscura in the wake of Lander's passing, but the future of the band remained undiscussed. The song "Alabama" from the Tracyanne & Danny album is Campbell's tribute to Lander.

On 5 September 2018, Camera Obscura returned to live performance as part of the Boaty Weekender, a cruise festival curated by Belle & Sebastian sailing from Barcelona to Cagliari on 8–12 August 2019.

Prior to participating in the Boaty Weekender, the band announced a warm-up show at Saint Luke's & The Winged Ox in Glasgow on 5 August with proceeds donated to the Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice in memory of Carey Lander. After tickets for the show were sold out, the band added a second date with proceeds also being donated.

For these shows and the Boaty Weekender, the band brought in Donna Maciocia, formerly of Amplifico, to accompany the band on keyboards and backing vocals.

The band confirmed in May 2020 that they were preparing a new album, but had been forced to delay recording it due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On 23 April 2022, the band released a new compilation album, Making Money, containing "hard-to-find B-sides", covers, a session recording and two remixes. The release was dedicated to the memory of previous band member Carey Lander

On 15 November 2023, the band announced 2024 tour dates, adding there would be "some new music" in support of it. In January 2024, the band announced their sixth studio album Look to the East, Look to the West. It was released on 3 May 2024. To coincide with the announcement, the album's lead single "Big Love" was released.

Members

Current members

• Tracyanne Campbell – lead vocals, guitar (1996–2015, 2018–present), percussion (1996–2004)
• Gavin Dunbar – bass (1996–2015, 2018–present)
• Lee Thomson – drums (2000–2015, 2018–present)
• Kenny McKeeve – guitar, backing vocals (2001–2015, 2018–present)
• Donna Maciocia – keyboards, backing vocals (2023–present; touring musician 2019)

Former members

• John Henderson – lead and backing vocals, percussion (1996–2004)
• David Skirving – guitar, backing vocals (1998–2001)
• Richard Colburn – drums (1998–2000)
• Lindsay Boyd – keyboards (2000–2002)
• Nigel Baillie – trumpet, percussion (2002–2009)
• Carey Lander – piano, keyboards, backing vocals (2002–2015; died 2015)

Former touring musicians

• Frànçois Marry – trumpet, percussion, guitar (2003–2009)
• Tim Cronin – trumpet, percussion (2009–2015)

Timeline

Discography

Albums

Compilations and EPs

• Rare UK Bird (December 1999, Quattro) Japan-only
• 4AD Sessions EP (19 April 2014, 4AD) Record Store Day
• Making Money (23 April 2022, 4AD) Record Store Day

Singles

Other contributions

• Acoustic 07 (2007, V2 Records) – "Let's Get Out of This Country"
• The Saturday Sessions: The Dermot O'Leary Show (2007, EMI) – "Super Trouper"

See also

• List of bands and musicians from Glasgow
• List of Scottish musicians

References

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2. Yissin, Jibril (18 November 2016). "The 10 Best Twee Pop Albums To Own On Vinyl". Vinyl Me Please. Archived from the original on 2 June 2021. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
3. Carew, Anthony (February 2007). "Camera Obscura". TheAge.com.au. The Age. Archived from the original on 2 June 2021. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
4. Plagenhoaf, Scott. "Camera Obscura: Underachievers Please Try Harder Album Review". Pitchfork. Pitchfork Media. Archived from the original on 2 June 2021. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
5. ^ "Camera Obscura Biography". NME Artists. NME. Archived from the original on 23 April 2009. Retrieved 16 June 2009.
6. ^ "Camera Obscura". Allmusic. Archived from the original on 10 November 2023. Retrieved 16 June 2009.
7. "Radio 1 – Keeping It Peel – Festive 50s – 2001". BBC. Archived from the original on 3 March 2012. Retrieved 3 April 2012.
8. "Camera Obscura". Interviews. Pitchfork Media. 25 September 2006. Archived from the original on 16 June 2009. Retrieved 16 June 2009.
9. Keresman, Mark (19 July 2006). "If It's Not Scottish, It's Crap!". SF Weekly. Archived from the original on 23 October 2014. Retrieved 19 October 2014.
10. Perry, Jonathan (30 June 2006). "Camera Obscura Sharpens its Focus". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on 1 December 2008. Retrieved 21 March 2009.
11. "P.S. I Love You (2007) Soundtracks". IMDb. Archived from the original on 5 August 2013. Retrieved 5 July 2013.
12. "Music from Friday Night Lights S1E05". Archived from the original on 3 June 2023. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
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14. "Camera Obscura's New Album". 9 February 2009. Archived from the original on 24 March 2009.
15. "Records Store Day Releases – 2009". Record Store Day. 29 April 1992. Archived from the original on 23 May 2016. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
16. Thomas, Fred. "Desire Lines Awards". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 8 October 2015. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
17. "Camera Obscura – It is with regret that Camera Obscura..." Facebook. Archived from the original on 26 February 2022. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
18. Strang, Fay (21 August 2015). "Camera Obscura's Carey Lander's rare and aggressive bone cancer returns, says it's 'too late' to help her". Mirror.co.uk. Archived from the original on 26 September 2015. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
19. "Carey Lander is fundraising for Sarcoma UK". Justgiving.com. 13 August 2015. Archived from the original on 29 May 2024. Retrieved 25 August 2024.
20. Minsker, Evan (11 October 2015). "Camera Obscura's Carey Lander Has Died | Pitchfork". pitchfork.com. Archived from the original on 26 July 2016. Retrieved 4 August 2016.
21. Jamieson, Teddy (19 May 2018). "Tracyanne Campbell on Camera Obscura, the loss of bandmate Carey Lander and her new album". The Herald. Archived from the original on 20 May 2018. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
22. Brown, Annie (15 May 2018). "'Losing Carey was massive' Camera Obscura singer on returning to music after band mate's death". Daily Record. Archived from the original on 23 May 2018. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
23. Camera Obscura (5 September 2018). "Hi folks". Facebook. Archived from the original on 26 February 2022. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
24. Camera Obscura (30 April 2019). "We're warming up for our Boaty Weekender gigs by playing St Luke's..." (Tweet). Retrieved 6 August 2019 – via Twitter.
25. Camera Obscura (3 May 2019). "Thanks for the kind words and fast ticket purchases..." (Tweet). Retrieved 6 August 2019 – via Twitter.
26. ^ Maciocia, Donna (4 August 2019). "Super stoked to be playing these shows with @Camera_Obscura_..." (Tweet). Retrieved 6 August 2019 – via Twitter.
27. Camera Obscura (24 June 2019). "Great rehearsals this weekend in prep for our first gig in 42 days..." (Tweet). Retrieved 6 August 2019 – via Twitter.
28. Camera Obscura (2 May 2020). "Camera Obscura Facebook". Facebook. Archived from the original on 26 February 2022. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
29. "Camera Obscura - Making Money (4AD B-Sides and Rarities). 4AD". 4AD. Archived from the original on 31 May 2023. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
30. "@Camera_Obscura_". Twitter. Archived from the original on 31 May 2023. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
31. Obscura, Camera. "Instagram". Instagram. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
32. Cocoran, Nina. "Camera Obscura Announce First Album in 10 Years, Share Video for New Song: Watch". Pitchfork. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
33. ^ "Camera Obscura". Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on 8 May 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2009.
34. "Discography Camera Obscura". irish-charts.com. Archived from the original on 29 February 2012. Retrieved 3 November 2009.
35. "Camera Obscura Music News & Info". Billboard. Archived from the original on 7 August 2022. Retrieved 3 November 2009.

External links

• Official site
• Camera Obscura at AllMusic
• Camera Obscura discography at Discogs
• Camera Obscura at IMDb

• Musical groups established in 1996
• Musical groups from Glasgow
• Scottish indie pop groups
• Scottish indie rock groups
• Twee pop groups
• 4AD artists
• 1996 establishments in Scotland
• Elefant Records artists
• Merge Records artists
• Female-fronted musical groups