Camera Obscura
Issue #28
Let's Get Out of This Country (Merge)
By John Everhart
Published: June 1st, 2006 | 11:08am
Eschewing the straightforward twee pop that garnered them frequent comparisons to Belle & Sebastian, Camera Obscura’s third album, Let’s Get Out of This Country, draws liberally from the sounds of ’60s girl groups and Motown/Phil Spector doo-wop, evoking the pastiches of likeminded contemporaries such as Jens Lekman and Saturday Looks Good to Me. Like the aforementioned acts, Camera Obscura channels its influences in a decidedly original manner, melding them into something distinctly idiosyncratic.
“Lloyd, I’m Ready To Be Heartbroken” is an ebullient kick-start opener, a glistening baroque-pop gem that slyly references Lloyd Cole and the Commotions’ “Are You Ready to be Heartbroken?” The swelling title track is a dead ringer for Jimmy Webb with its semi-rococo chord progressions, like a hyper-charged version of R.E.M.’s “All The Way to Reno.”
The breezy sway of “Tears For Affairs” is highlighted by a lithe seesaw vocal swap between Tracyanne Campbell and John Henderson. Henderson is relegated to a backing singer throughout the album, as the record is dominated by Campbell’s nutmeg-sweet vocals, giving it a singularity and consistency lacking on the band’s earlier efforts.
The record closes with its finest track, the sublime “Razzle Dazzle Rose.” As Campbell croons of being “lucky like a four-leaf clover,” the sweetness of the hypnotic mélange of guitars and keyboards and swelling brass takes over, and all the superficial band comparisons in the world are moot. This is just beautiful music with an astounding command of pop’s rich vocabulary, never arch or flippant, just deeply affecting and rewarding and one of the finest records you’re likely to hear in 2006.
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