Camera Obscura

来自苏格兰格拉斯哥的Camera Obscura是由六个音乐家组成的一个明亮，闪耀的独立流行乐队。乐队最初在1996年成立，当时参与其中的有主音Tracyanne Campbell, John Henderson, 贝斯手Gavin Dunbar和吉他手David。他们一起进行创作并发行了一小量的单曲，其中Richard Colburn（Belle & Sebastian的鼓手）曾参EPs中的小部分歌曲。在乐队第一只专辑发行了3年后，Lee Thompson作为鼓手加入了Camera Obscura。与此同时，吉他手David也独自离开了乐队，另谋发展。Kenny McKeeve的加入刚好弥补回吉他手这个位置。不久后，键盘Lindsay Boyd也加入了Camera Obscura，从而成为一支6人的乐队。Camera Obscura有一位轻盈、灵动的女主唱Tracyanne Campell，她的嗓音深获乐评赞赏，常与Tracy Thorn、Astrud Gilberto等美丽女声相提并论。
在2002年，被评选为2001年最有潜力乐队之一之后，Camera Obscura送上了他们的第一只完整的专辑《Biggest Bluest Hi-Fi》，并出现在AndMoreSound records的发行目录上，专辑的设计与制作得到Belle & Sebastian的成员Stuart Murdoch的帮助。人气也随着专辑的大卖而急剧上升。据说Camera Obscura是拉丁文中“暗房间”，不过从他们的音乐里没有那种冰冷的感觉，反而扑面而来的是暖洋洋的气氛。Camera Obscura，是个妙趣无穷的惊奇之箱，一切都在那光线的魔法下，显出色彩鲜明的影子，映照出缤纷幻变的世间景象。不听，便彷佛少看了一份不该错过的风景。
by Mario Mesquita Borges & Tim Sendra
Hailing from Glasgow, Scotland, Camera Obscura formed in 1996, when Tracyanne Campbell (vocals), John Henderson (percussion, vocals), Gavin Dunbar (bass), and guitarist David started playing together. They went on to release a number of singles, one of them including the contribution of Richard Colburn, Belle & Sebastians drummer. Three years after the bands first releases, Lee Thompson joined the band as a permanent drummer while David abandoned the crew, and was later replaced by Kenny McKeeve. Keyboardist Lindsay Boyd joined the band not long afterward, defining the band as a six-piece. In 2002, after being referred as one of the promising bands of the year 2001 on John Peels playlist, Camera Obscura presented their first full-length, Biggest Bluest Hi-Fi, through the AndMoreSound Records catalog, with production help from Belle & Sebastians Stuart Murdoch. Trumpeter and percussionist Nigel Baile joined the band soon afterward, swelling their ranks to seven. The groups next effort, the luminescent Underachievers Please Try Harder, was released by Spanish label Elefant in 2003 and by American indie rock stalwart Merge in 2004. (Merge also reissued Biggest Bluest Hi-Fi in 2004.) For the bands third John Peel session in early 2004, they were asked to put music to the words of Scottish poet Robert Burns, a task the band enjoyed so much they ended up recording studio versions of two of the songs: I Love My Jean and Red, Red Rose. After touring the world and reaping critical success, the band returned to Scotland and suffered two losses — the death of Peel, one of their biggest supporters, and the defection of John Henderson. The band released the I Love My Jean single as a tribute to Peel in early 2005 and decamped as a six-piece to Sweden to record with noted producer Jari Haapalainen. The resulting album, Lets Get Out of This Country, was released in June of 2006 on Merge and Elefant.