Camera Obscura @ The Lexington

How much do I like Camera Obscura? Bloody loads thats how much.

So I went to see them again last night in a pub called The Lexington in Angel. I'd never been there before and I really liked the venue. The gigs are held upstairs and the room only holds 200 people so although we were standing towards the back, near the bar and above the sound desk we had a fantastic view because we were higher than the stage and still only about 20 feet away from it.

They were performing songs from their new album My Maudlin Career (released 21 April - hate the cover a/w). Tracyanne asked "Is everyone as nervous as us?" and went on to say that they hadn't performed the new material before and that people 'get angry' when they do the new stuff and not the old favourites, although I can't actually imagine a Camera Obscura crowd getting angry.


The gig was a mixture of songs from the new album and songs from their previous album 'Lets Get Out of This Country'. Or rather 'new record' as Tracyanne referred to it as.

Because I was standing above the mixing desk I could see the playlist and can almost remember the running order which went something like: 1. My Maudlin Career, 2. Lets Get out of This Country then included French Navy, Honey in the Sun, Swans, James and You Told a Lie from the new album and Lloyd I'm Ready to be Heartbroken, Come Back Margaret and two of my favourites Tears for Affairs and Razzle Dazzle Rose from the last album. But they still didn't play Suspended From Class which is my favourite song of theirs! I'll need to email them which gigs I plan to attend and request it.

Above right: that's her performing last night

During the first two songs the sound engineer hadn't quite got the balances right so everything was turned up loud except the microphone picking up her voice. For about 3 seconds I thought about leaning over, tapping him on the shoulder and politely asking him to sort it arrt. But he did sort it after Tracyanne said that they sounded like they were performing in a goldfish bowl. I wouldn't want to mess with her.

I liked the songs they played from the My Maudlin Career. Sometimes when you hear new stuff you think 'ho hum very nice now play something I know' but they mixed the order of old and new material well. Guitar player Kenny did get a bit ahead of himself when he started playing the wrong song, saying he had jumped one song ahead on the playlist.

They are just really good musicians and Tracyanne writes fantastic lyrics and I love her voice. Visually they aren't the most exciting band to watch and there isn't much chat between songs but to stand and hear them play live is great. So great in fact I'm seeing them again next month. Does that make me a groupie?