Camera Obscura: Rochester, NY 11/23/2009 @ the German House

It was a spacious venue, the German House:  a towering ceiling, classy balcony, shitty beer choices, people well spread out–making it easy to move through. What more could you ask for on the night before Thanksgiving? The air smelled of a base-note essential oil as Camera Obscura nonchalantly took their place on stage, opening with “My Maudlin Career”, also the title of their latest album. Maudlin, meaning foolishly sentimental, wittingly mirrors the feel of their songs: desperate and peppy with sock-hop-esque tones that suggest surfing, or perhaps pining for waves.

A band from Glasgow, Scotland, Camera Obscura had their way of engaging the Rochester crowd. “That was the second song–are you drunk?” Tracyanne Campbell, the band’s lead singer responded after a shout-out request. During the song, “Come Back Margaret”, the band cohesively executed a specific clapping pattern, of which the crowd enthusiastically mocked. The energy was high. Shadows danced on the hard-wood floor in shades of blue and red. And then, without warning, Tracyanne got feisty, pausing the song “Pen and Notebook” to say, “If we’re going to do a quiet song…shut the fuck up,” to the crowd below. People were getting rowdy. She was on top of her game. She even added a courteous, “no offense”. (see video below)

The instruments in the show ranged from guitars to an organ and a trumpet, all haunting, all played like your favorite mix tape. I have to give extra credit to Kenny McKeeve for his backup vocals–I’ve never heard better “Ooh Ooh Oohs”.
Visually, the band was refined and polished. Their look encompassed the fifties’ style: women in vintage dresses, men in chic vests, depicting gender roles. Diners, drive-in movies, sentimentality–a sister’s social agony.
Between songs, the band thanked some folks for a delightful Thanksgiving dinner, and on the topic of the holidays, introduced a wintry single–a Jim Reeve’s cover titled “The Blizzard”. (For those of you who aren’t my grandmother, Jim Reeves was a twangy country singer in the 50s.) Pitchfork features “The Blizzard” here: http://pitchfork.com/forkcast/13616-the-blizzard-jim-reeves-cover/ so give a listen while looking at a pretty illustration of snow falling on a rustic house, taken from their EP.

Camera Obscura ended the evening with “French Navy”, a song that is arguably the best on My Maudlin Career. Two minutes later they regrouped on stage for their encore, playing, “Let’s Get Out of This Country”, and “Razzle Dazzle Rose”. The trumpets left us happy in the crowd, satisfied, some might say full. It was a musical feast and I’ll say it, catching this show was, in fact, “lucky as a four-leaved clover”.

Lori DeGolyer, photo: J. Sorel