Tag: Twee

(Vinyl Love is a series of posts that quite simply lists, describes, and displays the pieces in my growing vinyl collection. You can bet that each record was given a spin during the drafting of each corresponding post.)

Artist: Camera Obscura
Album Title: Desire lines
Year released: 2013
Details: Black vinyl, gatefold sleeve

The skinny: The fifth and final album (so far) by Camera Obscura was the first by the band to be purchased for my collection. In fact, it was a part of a good handful of discs to be sitting on my shelves before I even got around to purchasing a turntable. I had started collecting the previous spring and given that most new releases at the time were coming with download cards for digital versions of the album, it just made sense to go this route. I distinctly remember driving downtown on a Sunday afternoon and going to the now closed Compact Music location on Bank street and finding it right there on the new releases display rack. It felt so great in my hands. Of course, I didn’t know then that this would be their last album with keyboardist Carey Lander. After she died of osteosarcoma in 2015, the band went on an extended hiatus. They were just getting a tour organized and starting to think about new material when COVID-19 put a stop to everything last spring. Here’s hoping the band gets back to it soon. We could use a bit of sunshine.

Standout track: “Fifth in line to the throne”

(Vinyl Love is a series of posts that quite simply lists, describes, and displays the pieces in my growing vinyl collection. You can bet that each record was given a spin during the drafting of each corresponding post.)

Artist: Camera Obscura
Album Title: My maudlin career
Year released: 2009
Details: Black vinyl, gatefold sleeve

The skinny: For part three of this mini Vinyl Love series on Scottish indie pop band Camera Obscura, we have their fourth record and the first on 4AD, “My maudlin career”. After the success of “Let’s get out of this country”, the group decided to once again work with that album’s producer, Jari Haapalainen, and though the aesthetic and quality is similar, it’s far from being a lazy reproduction. Yet as much as I love all the delicious heartbreak, the original pressing of this album actually only came to be a part of my collection almost two years ago. It came to me on one of my last ever visits to the brick and mortar record stores in Toronto. I haven’t gotten to the Big Smoke as often as I would have liked in the last year and a half (for obvious reasons) and none of the few times that I did have afforded the opportunity to visit the shops. Things are looking up, though, and I’m feeling that those happy times will return soon… but I digress. This is an excellent album that gets the nostalgia flowing so it’s worth another spin.

Standout track: “French navy”