Camera Obscura is a Scottish

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and sub ...

band from

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

. The group formed in 1996, and have released five albums to date – the most recent of which, '' Desire Lines'', was released in 2013. The current members of the band are vocalist

Tracyanne Campbell Tracyanne Campbell (born 18 May 1974) is a Scottish singer and musician who is the lead vocalist of the Glasgow-based indie pop band Camera Obscura. Born in Glasgow, Campbell founded Camera Obscura alongside John Henderson and Gavin Dunbar in 19 ...

, guitarist Kenny McKeeve, bassist Gavin Dunbar, and drummer Lee Thomson. The band undertook an extended hiatus in 2015, following the death of long-serving keyboardist Carey Lander. The surviving members later reconvened in 2018. The band's bright take on indie pop has been frequently described as "

twee pop Twee pop is a subgenre of indie pop that originates from the 1986 ''NME'' compilation ''C86''. Characterised by its simplicity and perceived innocence, some of its defining features are boy–girl harmonies, catchy melodies, and lyrics about love ...

," and garnered comparisons to fellow Scottish band

Belle & Sebastian Belle and Sebastian are a Scottish indie pop band formed in Glasgow in 1996. Led by Stuart Murdoch, the band has released eleven albums. They are often compared with acts such as The Smiths and Nick Drake. The name "Belle and Sebastian" comes ...

. 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

, 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 ''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 Writing for AllMusic, critic Tim Sendra praised the a ...

'', was released in 2001. The album was produced by Stuart Murdoch of

and was supported by

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...

. The first single from the album, "Eighties Fan", came in at number eight in the

Festive Fifty The Festive Fifty was originally an annual list of the year's 50 (though the exact figure varied above and below this number) best songs compiled at the end of the year and voted for by listeners to John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show. It was usually do ...

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 John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...

The band's second album, ''

Underachievers Please Try Harder ''Underachievers Please Try Harder'' is the second LP from the indie band Camera Obscura, released in 2003. The album was released in Australia by Popfrenzy. Reception Writing for AllMusic, critic Tim Sendra praised the album, again comparing ...

'', was released in 2003 and was followed by Camera Obscura's first full tour of Great Britain and

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

and the band's first tour of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. 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 (25 January 175921 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who hav ...

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 Jari Haapalainen (born 1971) is a Finnish-Swedish musician, songwriter and producer.answer song An answer song, response song or answer record, is a song (usually a recorded track) made in answer to a previous song, normally by another artist. The concept became widespread in blues and R&B recorded music in the 1930s to the 1950s. Answer son ...

Lloyd Cole and the Commotions Lloyd Cole and the Commotions were a British rock/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; it also had success in several other countries in ...

' song "

Are You Ready to Be Heartbroken? "Are You Ready to Be Heartbroken?" is a song by Lloyd Cole and the Commotions from the 1984 album ''Rattlesnakes''. The song was covered by Sandie Shaw in 1986. Her version reached number 68 on the UK Singles Chart in June that year. In 2006, Ca ...

"; 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 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 they had signed with 4AD. The new album, ''

My Maudlin Career ''My Maudlin Career'' is the fourth studio album by the Scottish indie pop band Camera Obscura. The album was made available for streaming on 14 April 2009, before being released on 20 April via 4AD. Like its predecessor, the album was produced ...

'', was released in April 2009, and preceded by the first single "French Navy".

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

-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 Top 100. 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 Record Store Day is an annual event inaugurated in 2007 and held on one Saturday (typically the third) every April and every Black Friday in November to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store". The day brings together fa ...

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 Tucker Martine (born January 14, 1972) is an American record producer, musician and composer. In 2010, ''Paste'' Magazine included Martine in their list of the 10 Best Producers of the Decade. Early life Tucker Martine, the son of singer and son ...

and released by 4AD on 3 June 2013. The album was the band's second UK Top 40 entry and narrowly missed the US Top 100. In 2015, the band announced the cancellation of planned gigs in North America due to the illness of Carey Lander. She was first diagnosed with

osteosarcoma An osteosarcoma (OS) or osteogenic sarcoma (OGS) (or simply bone cancer) is a cancerous tumor in a bone. Specifically, it is an aggressive malignant neoplasm that arises from primitive transformed cells of mesenchymal origin (and thus a sarcoma) a ...

in 2011. She announced in 2015 that it had returned. Lander set up a

JustGiving JustGiving is a global online social platform for giving. The firm's headquarters are located in Bankside, London. History In 2000, Zarine Kharas and Anne-Marie Huby founded JustGiving, (initially clickforaction.com) a company to provide on ...

page for Sarcoma UK in order to raise awareness to the illness and lack of funding for research and treatment, and as of November 2015, the sum of donations is over £73,000. 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 Danny Coughlan is a British singer and guitarist from Bristol. He performs under the name "Crybaby". In an article in ''Vice'' magazine, Tom Watson, then deputy leader of the Labour Party, has described him as a "master songwriter". His debut Cr ...

, 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 announced their live return 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 Amplifico are a Scottish band comprising Donna Maciocia (keyboards and vocals), Ross Kilgour (guitar) and Dave Brunton (drums). The name Amplifico was chosen from a Latin dictionary (meaning to increase or enlarge). Origins Amplifico's roots ...

, on keyboards and backing vocals. On 5 August 2019, Camera Obscura hinted at the possibility of releasing new music when responding to a tweet referring to ''Desire Lines'' as their "5th and final album," to which the band replied "It's definitely our fifth album.....". 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 The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Members

Current members

– vocals, guitar (1996–2015, 2018–present) *Gavin Dunbar – bass (1996–2015, 2018–present) *Lee Thomson – drums (2000–2015, 2018–present) *Kenny McKeeve – guitar, vocals (2001–2015, 2018–present)

Current touring musicians

*Tim Cronin – trumpet, percussion (2009–2015) *Donna Maciocia – keyboards, vocals (2019)

Former members

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

Former touring musicians

* Frànçois Marry – trumpet, percussion, guitar (2003–2009)

Discography

Albums

Singles

Compilations and EPs

*''Rare UK Bird'' (December 1999, Quattro) Japan-only *''4AD Sessions EP'' (19 April 2014, 4AD) Record Store Day

Other contributions

*''Acoustic 07'' (2007,

V2 Records V2 Records (or V2 Music; V2 being an abbreviation for Virgin 2) is a record label that was purchased by Universal Music Group in 2007 and sold to IASin 2013. In the Benelux, V2 operates separately from PIAS, as the label bought itself out from ...

) – "Let's Get Out of This Country" *'' The Saturday Sessions: The Dermot O'Leary Show'' (2007,

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

) – " Super Trouper"

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Camera Obscura Musical groups established in 1996 Musical groups from Glasgow British indie pop groups Scottish indie rock groups 4AD artists 1996 establishments in Scotland Elefant Records artists Merge Records artists