Album Review: Camera Obscura, Look to the East, Look to the West

Camera Obscura went on an extended hiatus following the death of founding member Carey Lander in 2015, before being enticed back to perform at Belle & Sebastian’s 2019 Boaty Weekender cruise festival. Having rediscovered their love of making music together, this sixth album is their first new material in 11 years.

Look To The East, Look To The West sees the Scottish indie outfit treading familiar territory, combining softly jangling guitars and keyboard licks with bittersweet lyrics and bedsit blues. At their best, they create swirling melancholia, like ‘Liberty Print’ and ‘We’re Going To Make It In A Man’s World’, or the beautifully bruised and bittersweet title-track.

This sixth album owes more of a debt to Nashville than previous efforts, from Tim Davidson’s pedal steel on ‘Big Love’ to the ‘boom-tish-tish’ rhythm of ‘The Night Lights’, a sound similar to that beloved of country-n-Irish bands around the border area, and a tad twee to these ears.

The simple piano and vocals of  ‘Sugar Almond’ or ‘Only A Dream’ work much better, sounding more heartfelt without the countrified bells and whistles. Similarly, the aching ‘Sleepwalking’ opens with the killer line, “They told you it was coke, it was ketamine.”

Then there’s the ’60s pop swirl of ‘Baby Huey (Hard Times)’, the catchy, Hammond-led ‘Pop Goes Pop’ and the sweet and catchy ‘Denon’, which gets better with every listen.

A welcome return.

8/10