{"product_id":"camera-obscura-look-to-the-east-look-to-the-west","title":"CAMERA OBSCURA - Look To The East, Look To The West","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #ff0000;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCD\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eLook to the East, Look to the West\u003c\/em\u003e, the new album by \u003cstrong\u003eCamera Obscura\u003c\/strong\u003e, is a revelation. The \u003cstrong\u003eTracyanne Campbell\u003c\/strong\u003e-led outfit, reuniting with producer \u003cstrong\u003eJari Haapalainen\u003c\/strong\u003e (\u003cem\u003eLet’s Get Out of This Country\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eMy Maudlin Career\u003c\/em\u003e), have crafted an album that simultaneously recalls why longtime fans have ferociously loved them for decades while also being their most sophisticated effort to date.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eIt is also the most hard-fought album of Camera Obscura’s career. Following the 2015 passing of founding keyboardist and friend \u003cstrong\u003eCarey Lander\u003c\/strong\u003e (to whom the penultimate track “\u003cem\u003eSugar Almond\u003c\/em\u003e” is addressed), the band went into an extended hiatus. They remained in contact, but their status was uncertain until they announced their return, having been invited to perform as part of \u003cstrong\u003eBelle \u0026amp; Sebastian\u003c\/strong\u003e’s 2019 Boaty Weekender cruise festival, along with a pair of sold-out warm-up shows in Glasgow. \u003cstrong\u003eDonna Maciocia\u003c\/strong\u003e (keys and vocals) joined founding members \u003cstrong\u003eKenny McKeeve\u003c\/strong\u003e (guitar and vocals), \u003cstrong\u003eGavin Dunbar\u003c\/strong\u003e (bass), and \u003cstrong\u003eLee Thomson\u003c\/strong\u003e (drums and percussion) for those shows and has since become a regular songwriting partner of Campbell’s.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eRecorded in the same room where Queen wrote “\u003cem\u003eBohemian Rhapsody\u003c\/em\u003e,” \u003cem\u003eLook to the East, Look to the West\u003c\/em\u003e feels big, a widescreen reframing of Camera Obscura’s sound that, paradoxically, saw the band go back to basics there are no string or brass arrangements, with more emphasis placed on piano, synthesizers, Hammond organ, and drum machines, and, perhaps most strikingly, the group have dropped the veil of reverb that characterized their previous albums. The tinges of country and soul that give Camera Obscura’s baroque take on pop music its bittersweet edge have never been more apparent guitars shimmer into the distance, keys haunt, and Campbell’s voice searches for the heart, reflecting on love, loss, and the passage of time.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eLead single “\u003cem\u003eBig Love\u003c\/em\u003e” relishes in the space between country rock and prog, a pining break-up anthem featuring the soaring pedal steel of \u003cstrong\u003eTim Davidson\u003c\/strong\u003e. It’s a Nashville Sound heartbreaker, tackling the complexity of wanting to rekindle a bad relationship with Campbell’s uncanny ability to render the past: “It was a big love, she said \/ That’s why it took ten years to get her out of her head,” she begins.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e“\u003cem\u003eWe’re Going to Make It in a Man’s World\u003c\/em\u003e” was co-written with Maciocia for filmmaker \u003cstrong\u003eMargaret Salmon\u003c\/strong\u003e’s 2021 film \u003cem\u003eIcarus\u003c\/em\u003e (\u003cem\u003eAfter Amelia\u003c\/em\u003e). (Salmon, in turn, shot \u003cem\u003eLook to the East, Look to the West\u003c\/em\u003e’s cover photography featuring Fiona Morrison, who was on the cover of Camera Obscura’s debut, \u003cem\u003eBiggest Bluest Hi-Fi\u003c\/em\u003e.). Ironic and sincere, the two navigate the reality of being women in the music industry, somehow floating over Davidson’s\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003epedal steel and Maciocia’s keys. “\u003cem\u003eThe Light Nights\u003c\/em\u003e” is a swooning song propelled by a western shuffle and killer guitar, striking a balance between a particularly good honky-tonk joint’s jukebox and a lost gem of California pop music waiting to be discovered in a 7” bin.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eLook to the East, Look to the West\u003c\/em\u003e is the sound of a band that has grown more confident in its sound and purpose than ever. It is Camera Obscura at their best and most evocative, an album that completely rearranges the listener’s emotional core, leaving them sad and exhilarated at the same time. Camera Obscura’s catalog is replete with songs people point to as life-changing, songs that will stick with them all their lives. \u003cem\u003eLook to the East, Look to the West\u003c\/em\u003e has 11 of them; take your pick.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Merge Records","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":47751409828185,"sku":"SDZ-05642","price":14.99,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0588\/3455\/0945\/files\/Camera_Obscura_-_Look_To_The_East__Look_To_The_West_-_2024.jpg?v=1706548066","url":"https:\/\/spindizzyrecords.com\/products\/camera-obscura-look-to-the-east-look-to-the-west","provider":"Spindizzy Dublin","version":"1.0","type":"link"}