Josh’s Top 5 albums of 2009: #1 Camera Obscura – My Maudlin Career
I first stumbled upon Camera Obscura about four years as they were one of a few bands in the “Belle & Sebastian” mold (twee/chamber pop/indie pop/whatever) and had been described as almost B&S with a female singer. That was enough for me, although I think that comparison is only skin deep. Anyway, beginning with their album debut in 2001 (Biggest Bluest Hi-Fi), they’ve consistently made crafted some of indie pop’s best moments, even if most of the rest of world hasn’t been listening. Debut single, Eighties Fan, still holds up remarkably well and their output has remained at a high level throughout the decade. Their second album, Underachievers Please Try Harder (great title, btw) deepened the topics and Campbell really started getting autobiographical and personal. Songs like Teenager, Before You Cry, Books Written For Girls, and Keep It Clean see a songwriter coming into her own. By the time we got to 2006’s Let’s Get Out Of This Country this guy was impressed enough that in one of those silly Facebook quizzes, when asked to list his top 25 albums of all time, that album made it. In fact, one review of that disc went, “Stepping fully out of the shadow of their onetime patrons Belle & Sebastian, the group has composed and performed an album that is comparable to B&S' best and ranks with the best indie pop albums ever.” They totally outdid themselves as songs such as Lloyd, Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken (one of my favorite singles of the decade), Tears For Affairs, If Looks Could Kill, Razzle Dazzle Rose and Let's Get Out Of This Country sounded like instant classics and I still never pass skip them when they come on. Having said all that, nothing prepared me for this release.
Love does funny things to people. We see through the cannon of popular music how through either the achievement or the loss of romantic love have shaped musical output as well as become the soundtrack of many lives. I remember reading a quote at some point where the writer stated that the majority of people don’t end up with the person who was their first choice and it is precisely because of this that pop music can have such sway over our lives. This album is no exception to this observation. In fact, through 11 songs, Miss Tracyanne Campbell somehow crams in every emotion under the sun and channeled these songs through the loss of a long term relationship of her own. Mind you, these are not laments of a teenager, as this subject matter tends gets relegated to, but remembrances of the process that love and it’s sometimes loss can have on a person. Emotions sway, sometimes very starkly, in the same song from fondness, to desperation, loneliness, manic infatuation, regret, but everything slowly moves the listener forward towards the conclusion I think Campbell tries to make in this album. You get songs of being adrift in places, loss, contemplation, moving forward and then going back, but through all of this one gets the sense that the proceedings are pointing to something. It’s the idea that even in the midst of personal struggle, all that is hazy will become clear again. It’s this almost naive (but not quite…although I’m a sap) view of romantic love that even through the muck of life, it’s ultimately worthwhile. Love wins out despite the valleys we go through and I think that’s ultimately what this album is about and with that said, here’s your guide through the valley. (Note that all songs are linked to a lovely clip of the band performing said song. Go ahead. Click away. You won’t regret it.)
Things get kicked off with lead single, French Navy, which details the moment in which two people stumble into love and have that mad rush, without quite thinking things through. She soon realizes this and spends the rest of song lamenting it’s passing and what she did wrong just as it started. This also continues a theme found in Traceyanne’s songs. This vacillation of emotions across the board gives her songs a genuine human element. She has this tendency to not merely dress her songs in overt feelings either way so it’s common to have things like joy, expectation, loss, and the lot in one song and so often that how these things go in real life.
The Sweetest Thing follows, in which (oh and I should state that this is not done in any chronological order) she gets out and dating with all the expectation of someone who hasn’t been loved in a long time. Remembrances of time past, where she would have to pay her way, taint the past love and is reminded of songs on the radio of this past. Despite all of this, hope remains even if it’s clouded love as can be seen on lyrics like, “When you’re lucid you’re the sweetest thing, I’d trade my mother just to hear you sing.”
You Told A Lie, is one of a number of songs that just hit my heart. The songs begins with the lines, “If you were a season you would be in bloom, I wish I had good reason to see you soon, no need to convince me you’re a catch, I’ve bought my ticket I’m sold at last.” This sentiment gets immediately dashed as it’s reveled that all that she believed about this person and their relationship were ultimately lies. There’s the notion of love conquering all but, she notes, it’s doesn’t add up if that’s the case. The tragedy of this song, is that even though she freely admits that’s the case, she’s still suck on him (and them) and hasn’t been able to yet become freed.
Away With Murder is about the creepiest tune in the set, but for good reason. This is a song of how one is at the lowest depths. When all hope is lost and you need someone there and you’re not sure if that someone will appear.
A couple songs later we get James (sorry, Swans, you’re my least favorite track on the album and I can’t say much about you), which is a devastating song for me because I’ve totally lived it. Love does something to people and even love that isn’t lasting. We fundamentally change in our hearts and soul and even with the best of intentions, post breakup, it can sometimes be impossible to be friends afterwords. That’s the tough one here. She CLEARY is still in love but is in that place where you still remember the love vividly and falsely believe that that should still count for something, and maybe even the creation of a new, but different kind of friendship. It doesn’t work as she still is pleading (“Can’t you see, you belong with me?”) that they should be together despite all signs to the contrary. Not only that, she’s still dealing with having things end without really knowing why and you can feel her heart break as she sings the chorus, “Oh James, you broke me. I thought I knew you well.”
Continuing this exact theme is Careless Love, but is one where it’s finally realized that they really can’t ever be friends again…and then she changes her mind and believes it can still happen. Oh love. You and your craziness you inflict on us. She goes back and forth so much you’re never sure what she’s going to decide but such is the confusion we can be thrown into after the dust has settled.
The title track, My Maudlin Career, is more of a summation of how all of this has her. She’s been able to evaluate the situation and declares, “This maudlin career must come to and end, I don’t want to be sad again.” It’s taken its toll and she’s done with all of it. Be it the noose around her neck of this previous relationship that still has a grip on her as well the stumbles of anything else on the horizon.
This leads into Other Towns And Cities, which is a contemplation in the wee hours of the morning. She’s drinking whiskey and wondering where her old love is and who they’re with while simultaneously remembering all the times he held her and the times they shared. Something tells me not to buy the final line as she sings, “You’re in another town or city, you mean nothing to me tonight.” Such are the things we tell ourselves to not go crazy.
Forests And Sands is the other one on this album that always gets me. It’s probably the one part in the album where a few lines remind me of an exact time and place in my life. My heart breaks when I hear her sing:
“Oh, and it feels like none of this is real
I pretend that my heart and my head are well
But if the blood pumping through my veins could freeze
Like a river in Toronto then I’d be pleased
You said I made you feel warm, said I made you feel warm inside”
Not only that, but in the first stanza we got, “I’ve been innocently learning your language, you’ve been taking full advantage, haven’t you? Don’t say it’s true.” It’s a song of the realization of a betrayal of trust and how that cuts to the core of someone. In the live clip I included, you can actually see her get emotional about the scene she’s painting. Tough stuff.
Now, if this is where the album ended, then this review ends differently. As opposed to many a great album, the lynch-pin of everything is the final song, Honey In The Sun. Not that it’s allllll sunny goodness, as there are nods to some of the stuff which preceded it, but the closer is a reaffirmation of the point I made at the beginning. Love can knock you around, make you lose your faith in humanity at times, and can leave you cold. However, love IS worth it and WILL find a way. It can flip cynics as is noted in this piece as she sings the chorus:
“I wish my heart was cold but it’s warmer than before
I wish my heart was as cold as the morning dew
But it’s as warm as saxophones and honey in the sun for you”
So despite the tragedy of the previous 10 songs, we see that life and love has a way of working itself out. Maybe it’s ultimately too idealistic but I’m a hopeless romantic idealist sort and this is my review. Anyway as a bonus, the iTunes version of the album comes with the very apt for everything else, The World Is Full Of Strangers and I highly recommend that as a download as well. Lastly, they put out as the B-side to The Sweetest Thing, a wonderful cover version of Bruce Springsteen’s Tougher Than The Rest that is also in step with the set.
One final note. Part of me isn’t entirely sure that this set is a better one than Let’s Get Out Of This Country, but for me it was released at the perfect time. I wholeheartedly believe in the healing power of music and this album was the most cathartic musical experience I have ever had. I’m sure I’ll never meet Traceyanne but this work she put together truly helped heal this little heart of mine and gave me a ring of hope right when I needed it. Say what you may about pop music being a “distraction from life” or some sort of put on, but when done with true humanity can have the power to enact change, goodness, and will alter lives for the better.
Here are the official videos:
French Navy
Honey In The Sun
The Sweetest Thing
