I hesitated before making this my SOTD, as it is one of the more well-known songs by one of the most well-known current indiepop artists, and I don't really know who it could be that would be reading this blog and hadn't heard it a million times before. But it really is such a great tune that I can't resist it.
Yet another great Glasgow indiepop band (that city really is some kind of freak of nature), Camera Obscura were formed in 1996, the same year and city in which Belle & Sebastian released their debut album. They are clearly a similar band in influences and ambitions to Murdoch's gang - he even produced their first album, and apparently they used to rehearse in the church where he was the caretaker. They have released 4 albums in total, which have been both critically acclaimed and have sold fairly large numbers - their last, 2009's 'My Maudlin Career', reached the top 40 of the UK mainstream pop charts, which really is an achievement in the world of indiepop.
This song was the first track and lead single from their third album, 'Let's Get Out Of This Country'. An answer song to Lloyd Cole's 'Are You Ready To Be Heartbroken?', it is a fairly standard indiepop hit, but is really made by the way the string section works with Campbell's voice, the organ and the horn section. When indiepop bands are given budgets big enough to expand their sound like this, this track (and the accompanying video) are what they come up with, and it should happen more often.
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