Look to the East, Look to the West – Camera Obscura – Album Review
by Cathy Brown

Look to the East, Look to the West is the first Camera Obscura album in fifteen years and their first release since the death of Carey Lander, founding member and keyboardist with the band. Despite her loss shadowing this collection of songs, Look to the East, Look to the West is a record suffused with a sense of hope, encapsulated by the line ‘don’t live with regret/ you only get one life’.

The string arrangements and reverb that gave previous album My Maudlin Career its distinctive resonance are gone, replaced instead with an emphasis on Hammond organ, piano and synthesisers, which bring a bright cleanness to the album. There is a cinematic vibe here, making it a perfect demonstration of the country and soul infused pop that has come to categorise the band, with music that is as bittersweet as it is upbeat.

‘Big Love’ is a break-up song that leans into a laidback country sound and features the warmth of Tim Davidson’s towering pedal steel while ‘The Light Nights’ is a gorgeous slice of catchy California Pop providing the perfect showcase for Donna Maciocia’s masterful piano playing. The cinematic and celestial ‘Denon’ embraces the catchy sound of Motown while ‘Only a Dream’ is a classic love song which combines layered vocals and a timeless country sound to celebrate living in the here and now.

Timeless is a word that springs to mind when listening to this album. ‘Pop Goes Pop’ does exactly what it says on the tin, a song that could have been released any time in the last sixty years while ‘Baby Huey (Hard Times)’ opens with an ‘80s drum machine before morphing seamlessly into ‘50s doo-wop.

‘Sugar Almond’ is a heartbreaking tribute to their lost bandmate Lander, featuring Traceyanne’s vulnerable vocals floating over a simple piano melody. ‘I loved your heart and soul, you made me kind’ should bring a tear to the eye of the hardest heart, yet the song ends with the determination that ‘you’ll give me courage to find my way’.

Lyrically Look to the East, Look to the West might tread similar ground to Camera Obscura’s previous work, but this is an expansive album, both in words and sounds. The arrangements are playful yet comforting, combining warm tones, sonic harmonies, sweeping organ-led backdrops and shifting textures to surprise and delight. Best of all is Campbell’s vocal; always able to convey a depth of feeling with an accessible lightness of touch as she reflects on love, loss and the precious nature of life.

As the album closes on the achingly gorgeous title track ‘Look to the East, Look to the West’, with its swirling euphoric sound, you can sense a band coming into their own again following great tragedy. They wear their loss lightly, but do not let Campbell’s sweet vocals and the shimmering pop arrangements fool you; there is grit, depth and real musical maturity behind the surface beauty of this record all executed with an infectious and irresistible openness.