Look to the East, Look to the West Camera Obscura SKU: 27.00 28.00 £27.00 - £28.00 £27.00 - £28.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Merge Records Released Date: 3rd May 2024 Buying Format: 1LP Coloured Vinyl Gatefold Sleeve 1LP Gatefold Sleeve Buying Options Choose an option1LP Coloured Vinyl Gatefold Sleeve1LP Gatefold SleeveClear Look to the East, Look to the West quantity Add to basket ReserveBack Order Add to your Wishlist Description Product Info Look to the East, Look to the West, the new album by Camera Obscura, is a revelation. The Tracyanne Campbell-led outfit, reuniting with producer Jari Haapalainen (Let’s Get Out of This Country, My Maudlin Career), 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. It is also the most hard-fought album of Camera Obscura’s career. Following the 2015 passing of founding keyboardist and friend Carey Lander (to whom the penultimate track “Sugar Almond” 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 Belle & Sebastian’s 2019 Boaty Weekender cruise festival, along with a pair of sold-out warm-up shows in Glasgow. Donna Maciocia (keys and vocals) joined founding members Kenny McKeeve (guitar and vocals), Gavin Dunbar (bass), and Lee Thomson (drums and percussion) for those shows and has since become a regular songwriting partner of Campbell’s. Recorded in the same room where Queen wrote “Bohemian Rhapsody,” Look to the East, Look to the West 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. Lead single “Big Love” relishes in the space between country rock and prog, a pining break-up anthem featuring the soaring pedal steel of Tim Davidson. 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. “We’re Going to Make It in a Man’s World” was co-written with Maciocia for filmmaker Margaret Salmon’s 2021 film Icarus (After Amelia). (Salmon, in turn, shot Look to the East, Look to the West’s cover photography featuring Fiona Morrison, who was on the cover of Camera Obscura’s debut, Biggest Bluest Hi-Fi.). Ironic and sincere, the two navigate the reality of being women in the music industry, somehow floating over Davidson’s pedal steel and Maciocia’s keys. “The Light Nights” 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. Look to the East, Look to the West 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. Look to the East, Look to the West has 11 of them; take your pick. Artist Camera Obscura Genre Rock And Pop Label Merge Records Buying Options 1LP Coloured Vinyl Gatefold Sleeve , 1LP Gatefold Sleeve Format 1LP , Coloured Vinyl , Gatefold Sleeve Condition New Country UK Track Listings Liberty Print We’re Going to Make It in a Man’s World Big Love Only a Dream The Light Nights Sleepwalking Baby Huey (Hard Times) Denon Pop Goes Pop Sugar Almond Look to the East, Look to the West Share this On Facebook On Twitter Via Email More from Camera Obscura and more from Rock And Pop View Product Quick View Camera Obscura Desire Lines Rock And Pop | 4AD | 1LP Released 30th August 2019 £19.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Camera Obscura Desire Lines £19.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: 4AD SKU: CAD3314 Formats: 1LP Released Date: 30th August 2019 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Camera Obscura My Maudlin Career Rock And Pop | 4AD | Miscellaneous Released 24th May 2019 £19.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Camera Obscura My Maudlin Career £19.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: 4AD SKU: CAD2907 Formats: Miscellaneous Released Date: 24th May 2019 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Cold Stares, The Heavy Shoes Rock And Pop | Mascot Records | 180g, 1LP, Coloured Vinyl Released 13th August 2021 £20.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Cold Stares, The Heavy Shoes £20.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Mascot Records SKU: 0810020504712 Formats: 180g, 1LP, Coloured Vinyl Released Date: 13th August 2021 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Jacco Gardner Hypnophobia Rock And Pop | Full Time Hobby | 1LP, Coloured Vinyl, Includes Download Code Released 1st May 2015 £19.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Jacco Gardner Hypnophobia £19.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Full Time Hobby SKU: FTH228LP Formats: 1LP, Coloured Vinyl, Includes Download Code Released Date: 1st May 2015 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View City & Colour A Pill For Loneliness Rock And Pop | Still Records | 2LP, Coloured Vinyl Released 4th October 2019 £22.00 - £23.00 Select options City & Colour A Pill For Loneliness £22.00 - £23.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Still Records Formats: 2LP, Coloured Vinyl Released Date: 4th October 2019 Read More Select options View Product Quick View Daniel Lanois For The Beauty Of Wynona Rock And Pop | Music On Vinyl | 180g, 1LP, Coloured Vinyl Released 30th October 2020 £21.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Daniel Lanois For The Beauty Of Wynona £21.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Music On Vinyl SKU: MOVLP814C Formats: 180g, 1LP, Coloured Vinyl Released Date: 30th October 2020 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Belle and Sebastian Write About Love Rock And Pop | Rough Trade | 1LP, Gatefold Sleeve, Includes Download Code Released 6th October 2014 £16.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Belle and Sebastian Write About Love £16.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Rough Trade SKU: RTRADLP480R Formats: 1LP, Gatefold Sleeve, Includes Download Code Released Date: 6th October 2014 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Gizmo Varillas Dreaming Of Better Days Rock And Pop | Muisca Records | 1LP Released 6th July 2018 £15.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Gizmo Varillas Dreaming Of Better Days £15.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Muisca Records SKU: V4712411 Formats: 1LP Released Date: 6th July 2018 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View DellaXOZ Dellairium Rock And Pop | Communion | 1LP, Coloured Vinyl Released 22nd March 2024 £18.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders DellaXOZ Dellairium £18.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Communion SKU: COMM624 Formats: 1LP, Coloured Vinyl Released Date: 22nd March 2024 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Galaxie 500 This Is Our Music Rock And Pop | 20.20.20 | 1LP Released 24th January 2020 £21.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Galaxie 500 This Is Our Music £21.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: 20.20.20 SKU: 20202009 Formats: 1LP Released Date: 24th January 2020 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders On Sale View Product Quick View Belle Brigade, The Just Because Rock And Pop | ATO | 1LP Released 1st December 2014 £7.99 £18.00 Add to basket Reserve View Reservations Belle Brigade, The Just Because £7.99 £18.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: ATO SKU: ATO0211LP Formats: 1LP Released Date: 1st December 2014 Reserve View Reservations Read More Add to basket View Product Quick View Local Natives Sour Lemon EP Rock And Pop | Loma Vista | 10", EP/Mini Album Released 11th December 2020 £13.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Local Natives Sour Lemon EP £13.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Loma Vista SKU: LVR01160 Formats: 10", EP/Mini Album Released Date: 11th December 2020 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders See more in Rock And Pop Start again
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