overlap

*So sings Traceyanne Campbell in Camera Obscura's song Away With Murder, and she has a very good point. Starting getting ready before 4pm is a good guide to a gig being something special, in more than one way. With a long bath, and more than enough make up behind me, my new handbag and I headed off to see Camera Obscura once again. I'm a very visual creature, and one of the things that makes my life easier is being able to rehearse the visualisation of where I am going, and what happens when I get there. With a familiar (and free!) parking spot only a short distance away, it's still something of an ordeal to get to the venue and inside it, a little bottle-related parking and moving on notwithstanding. Despite the getting through the door security gauntlet-running, it's relatively easy to go and stand in the dark, even if I'm a head taller than most of the other women on the premises. In a cramped space, there's more than enough sweat to make even the best Hollywood make up artists' work run, so it's not exactly easy to keep my cool. The bar was rammed when I got in, and while the lots of people coming through the front door makes me one of many rather than an isolated individual, it's still a moment or two of fear mixed with panic mixed with hope. Support act Magic Arm has a lot in common with Rob Jones' Voluntary Butler Scheme, in terms of sampled drum loops and so forth, but where the VBS makes a virtue of things that don't quite work, Magic Arm guy makes it look like technical probnlems rather than intentional vagueness, so it's not 100% convincing. I like the slightly more delicate acoustic guitar bits, I'm just not entirely certain how much is intentional. Camera Obscura, on the other hand, seem to have everything under control, despite Traceyanne's difficulties with the in-ear monitoring. It's great to see a band who make proper pop music for grown-ups, amd middle-aged people like me included. It would be futile to go through the set in detail, but Teenager is fabulous, and the whole set is over bang on 11 pm so I can be home by midnight-ish and take forever to type this out as the wine takes hold of my typing fingers. I'm way beyond a sensible, objective review here, but I had a great time.

Labels: Camera Obscura, gigs

Travelling in expectation can be a risky business, and having been sat on a ticket for a month or so, I'd definitely claim to have been excited about seeing Camera Obscura at last. They caught my attention with Lloyd, I Am Ready To Be Heartbroken a couple of years ago, and I've had my eye out for a chance to make a gig ever since. I don't know what they put in the water up there - insert gratuitous Irn Bru/buckie reference here if you feel the need - but the consistent output exemplified by the likes of Teenage Fanclub/BMX Bandits/Eugenius, and my current favourites Aberfeldy, Attic Lights, The Hussy's [sic] and, yes, Camera Obscura, means I have a good feeling in general about a lot of music from Scotland. It also explains why most of these bands aren't exactly playing on my doorstep on a frequent basis, so this time I was taking my car on what is probably its final visit to the Midlands. With a 6.30 start for a 9.30 curfew, this was always going to be a slightly different gig. It was 7.30 by the time I got there, but caught the last five or six songs of support band Kid Captain. You know what I was saying about being haunted by support bands with iffy names? Right. Their major asset is the lead singer's voice, which reminds me of Paddy McAloon's in places, but I'm not expecting to remember them clearly in a couple of years time. Camera Obscura take the stage under mostly blue lighting, and with Traceyanne's blue dress and Kenny and Gavin in blue shirts, there's a whole lot of blue going on. Which makes taking pictures without flash difficult, but on the other hand it's easy to spot Traceyanne shutting her eyes in preparation when she can see the orange beams warning that a preflash is coming, for which I don't blame her. One song is introduced as a new one, but the bulk of the set is recognisable to me, and I'm especially pleased they do Teenager. Having been anxious about time ticking away, I needn't have worried about how they were going to fit a full set in as one delightful three minute pop masterpiece follows another before they re-emerge for a brief encore of Eighties Fan, one of only two things that hadn't already turned up from my fantasy set list. This was not much more half a dozen people just having a lot of fun on stage together, and though the crowd as a whole was a little quiet, it made for a perfect small scale pop party, and this part of the crowd enjoyed it greatly. So I guess I've found another band to be a fan of rather than another band I listen to from time to time. Despite having the option to try and get into a later starting gig just along the road, I preferred to leave it at one great gig for the night, and headed for the car in the hope of an earlyish return home. Traceyanne guitarhero - the keen eye will spot the fluo green venue access pass sticker just peeking out from under her dress on her left leg. Which amuses me greatly. And yes, flickr, you know by now. The video for Eighties Fan. * is the first line from the song Dory Previn from Camera Obscura's fine Let's Get Out Of This country album

Labels: Camera Obscura, gigs