Camera Obscura

Let's Get Out of This Country

Merge

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Either you believe in true love or you don't. At least thatís the sentiment behind the lovelorn pop of Scottish sextet Camera Obscura. On the band's third album, Let's Get Out of This Country, singer Tracyanne Campbell's wistful vocals take the forefront. Her foil on the first two Camera Obscura records, John Henderson, departed following the band's 2004 U.S. breakthrough Underachievers Please Try Harder. Campbell's shy style is perfect for these 10 songs, which bounce through shimmying Motown rhythms, swooning country and indie fuzz, as she dryly comments on the mysteries of human relationships. The title track stands out with its twangy guitar lead, thick percussion and almost-too-sweet entreaties like, "We'll find a cathedral so that you can convince me I'm pretty." Bittersweet first single "Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken" nods toward smarty-pants English singer-songwriter Lloyd Cole. Throughout, elegant arrangements are frazzled in all the right places and the songs' subject matter is deceptively simple -- and isn't that how pop is supposed to be? Camera Obscura shares the bookish romanticism of fellow Scots Belle & Sebastian. With Let's Get Out of This Country, Camera Obscura cements its place alongside that band in the indie rock pantheon. I'm a believer.

-- Marc Hogan