Being stubborn and behind on the times, I managed to miss Camera Obscura on their two jillion and one spins through the city previously, but pined for that two jillion and second visit all the same; as soon as a ticket had been purchased, I started wishing the gig were the very next day. My Maudlin Career is easily my third favorite album of the year, and hearing my favorite tracks off it live almost seemed too heavenly.
Now I will state the obvious and say I had a lot of hope riding on this gig. I couldn't wait to dance and sing to all those songs I had filled slow summer workweeks with. For the most part it was worth all the waiting, although--again due to being behind on things--I didn't realize until the band took the stage and launched into "My Maudlin Career" that Camera Obscura's songs are lovely yet also really sort of sad and boppable but not all-out danceable. That and being in a tight spot meant I could only do really awkward, limp dancing through the set.
The set was slightly rough (Tracyanne Campbell's mic didn't appear to be loud enough on the first two songs, guitarist Kenny McKeeve kept losing his whammy bar, and suffered some slight technical difficulties during the encore), but the band prevailed. They even managed a polished rendition of the latest single, a cover of Jim Reeves' "The Blizzard", in spite of only performing it twice previously (and one of those times was during the actual recording).
Even if the polish had lost a little gleam, the fact that the band were so classily dressed redeemed things greatly. Falling into the cutesy fashion cliches of twee is so easy, but Camera Obscura looked mature. This may be my shallowness speaking, but their professional appearance meant I would've given them props even if I hadn't spent my work hours playing the fuck out of some of their gorgeous pop tunes.
But class wasn't what ultimately made the show for me; the openers, Papercuts, did. A whole five seconds of research on Last.fm has taught me that Papercuts is basically one person who crafts excellently gauzy pop tunes and whose touring musicians have been plucked from only the finest crop of endearingly awkward males. The keyboardist in particular was perhaps the most socially awkward person I've ever seen on stage--it was like he was frightened to even raise his pinkie finger a hair above one of his keys, for fear of making a sound and drawing attention to himself. My wildly delusional mind kind of pictured him as a twee and super cute version of Sparks' Ron Mael, in that he was stiff, made bizarre facial expressions now and then, and was in the process of growing a crazy moustache. I loved this guy. Hands down, he gets the Mr. Twee 2009 ribbon, which is a lovely pastel blue and decorated with soothing caricatures of sad woodland creatures.
Stage presence or lack thereof aside, Papercuts' music is truly worthy of investigating. Their entire set held my interest, but it was a sinister '60's/Zombies-esque song that really wooed me. When I find out the title of said song, expect to read more superlative-laced Papercuts posts in the future.
All in all, a nice-albeit awkward-night. Although, it was an indie-pop show, so I should've guessed as much...
Level of Disappointment: 4; I wanted to dance more, but "If Looks Could Kill" live was three and a half minutes of poppy brilliance, so I really can't complain.
Watch: Camera Obscura--The Sweetest Thing (official video)
Listen: Papercuts on Myspace
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