Camera Obscura – Look To The East, Look To The West review

It’s been eleven years since Camera Obscura’s last album Desire Lines, a hiatus which in part has been due to death in 2015 of Carey Lander, the band’s keyboardist who passed at just 33. Singer Traceyanne Campbell led the tributes to Lander in it’s wake, and it wasn’t until the opportunity presented itself four years later to reform for Belle and Sebastian’s Boaty Weekend festival that fan’s trepidations around a permanent split eased somewhat.

In spite of what could be thought of by outsiders as distance, the Glaswegians have openly admitted that Look To The East, Look To The West has been a struggle to bring to fruition, citing it the ‘most hard fought’ record of their almost three decade long career. Appropriately Campbell has opted also to reset, bringing the keys of Donna Maciocia to front opener Liberty Print, whilst also co-writing We’re Going to Make It In A Man’s World with her.

Despite the elapsed time, much of the subject matter will be familiar to long term acolytes; Campbell’s knack for writing about characters that are funny, defiant and lovelorn has far from escaped her, especially on the redemptory Big Love and as Pop Goes Pop neatly illustrates, she equally still has an ear for a great tune. Don’t call it a comeback, but Look To The East, Look To The West may open the shutter on a new era.

You can read a full review here.