Camera Obscura - Reveal Christmas single 'The Blizzard'
23 November 09
Camera Obscura have had an amazing year, with their album My Maudlin Career garnering praise from all around. A huge UK tour was followed by a six-week stretch in North America and Mexico then a summer full of festival appearances. In between these, they recorded many radio sessions in the UK, and made their US TV debut on The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson HERE. After being afforded a short break – not until they’d filmed a new video and recorded a new song, they did a full European tour and now they are back in the US for more dates! 2010 is already shaping up to be as busy with more festivals penned in and the southern hemisphere firmly in their sights.
To end this amazing year, the band have just begun a US tour, and on December 8th they will be releasing a holiday single! 'The Blizzard' will be available as a 7” & digital single with the album track 'Swans' as the b-side. 'The Blizzard' is a pretty dour song as far as “holiday” tunes are concerned. It was written by country artist Jim Reeves and is about a gentleman trying to get home to a gal named Mary Anne. He’s riding a lame pony in a blizzard, and, well – it doesn’t have a happy ending. He ends up just 100 yards short – ie: freezing to death before he gets there.
Either way, it’s more gorgeousness from Camera Obscura.
Listen to the single below:
Remaining US tour dates:
11/24 Northampton MA Pearl Street Ballroom
11/25 Rochester NY The German House
11/26 Toronto ONT Phoenix
11/27 Pontiac MI Crofoot Ballroom
11/28 Milwaukee WI Turner Hall
11/30 Bloomington IN Bluebird
12/1 St. Louis, MO Vintage Vinyl (instore performance)
12/1 St Louis MO Off Broadway
12/2 Oxford MS The Lyric Oxford
12/3 Athens GA 40 Watt Club
In addition, the band have just announced a tour of Australia and New Zealand in January next year...
1/18 Auckland Monte Cristo Room
1/19 Wellington San Francisco Bathhouse
1/21 Sydney Beck's Festival Bar
1/22 Brisbane The Zoo
1/23 Melbourne Corner Hotel
1/25 Perth Amplifiers
Click here to buy My Maudlin Career.
“The album feels as if it could have been released any time in the last 50-odd years, but the inspired arrangements - and, of course, Campbell's indelible voice -make it sound fresh, too." Pitchfork (8.3)
"Camera Obscura has been crafting its own blend of shimmering chamber-pop since first forming in Glasgow in 1996. Now, more than a decade later, the group [is about to} release its richest and most ambitious album to date." NPR's Exclusive First Listen
"It’s an infectious album that blooms repeatedly throughout, unfolding in muted, endearing aural hues; simultaneously sad and celebratory, and always charming." Paste (89%)
"The result is a flawless blend of sunny pop, Motown, blues and jazz with the cleanest production in Camera Obscura's catalog." Billboard
"On their fourth album, this Scottish indie-pop band's fondness for woeful heartache and Phil Spector–esque production reaches a poignant peak." Spin
“Make no mistake, this is a remarkably beautiful record. (It) exists to reward those both mad, and sad, in love.” NME (9/10)
