Camera Obscura/Mockingbird, Wish Me Luck - Kings College 17 July 2008
0 Comments Published by Trev Lostmusic on Friday, July 18, 2008 at 21:33.
A Thursday night in London town and a ticket to see Camera Obscura. All is right with the world. Or not. I am super tired after a hectic night seeing The Brian Jonestown Massacre the night before (they were good, but a long way from great). I digress. The first band we properly catch are a new band on me from Sweden, called - Mockingbird, Wish Me Luck. Tom first blogged about them back in March of the year likening the band to Belle and Sebastian and Jens Lekman. I can, after seeing them say this is a good starting point. There are 8 people on stage - trombones, guitars, trumpets and all. The first thing that strikes me about the band is their youth. They look so young. Then I am slowly drawn into their Belle and Sebastian styled pop as they start really well and save for a little dip mid set they pretty much pull off the tough job of playing to a large and largely disinterested crowd. I picked up their début LP 'Days Come and Go' on the way out of the venue - so a review will surely follow.
Onto the main attraction - Camera Obscura, a band I've not seen live in a very long while (2004?). I do know it's the first time I've managed to see them since 2006 'Let's Get Out Of The Country' LP which seemed to lift the band into the higher echelons of the indiepop world. Indeed, tonights gig at Kings College can be considered a relatively small show for the band these days.
The band, led, as ever by Tracey-Anne Campbell are still rather wonderful - possibly more so now than they were way back when - starting with songs from their debut LP 'Biggest Bluest Hi-Fi' it soon becomes obvious that a chunk of the people in the crowd have only picked up on the band since "Lloyd, I'm Ready to be Heartbroken" garnered the band some cross-over appeal. That's no bad thing as the band have grown and improved in the intervening years - the band sound very polished - although there are a few technical gremlins which the band try and solve themselves after the first song - Tracey-Anne remarking that they do their own 'Tech' to keep it real.But what kept it real for me was song after song of beautifully crafted pop - with a couple of new songs thrown in (the band have been recording in Sweden for a new LP - that is due towards the end of this year). One is called (I think) 'Royal Navy' (about the colour, apparently) - whilst I don't catch the name of the other new song. But both of these newies sound like a natural progression for the band and they're sure to be surefire indiepop disco fillers in a few months time.
The band scuttle off the stage at 11pm - and the crowd are enthusiastic for more - so they return and we get a cracking rendition of 'Razzle Dazzle Rose' to send the crowd happily on their way.
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