Tracyanne Campbell and co. are in mischievous mood with the video for 'Troublemaker', premiered by the band today.

Directed by long-time collaborator Blair Young, the video features the stars of the ‘French Navy’ video plus cameos from Camera Obscura themselves. Shot on location in the band's hometown of Glasgow, it recalls the much-loved British science fiction TV programmes of yesteryear. Originally conceived by Blair and Camera Obscura’s resident Sci-Fi expert Gavin Dunbar, the latter takes us through the thought process behind the video; "We tend to make videos on a bit of a tight budget, and when it came to making one for 'Troublemaker', I was thinking about what summed up the sound of the song: futuristic in an 80s way. Then I thought about what would make a video that looked futuristic in an 80s way and on a tight budget, and British Sci-Fi jumped out at me.

Some great programmes I grew up watching all tended to be made on tight budgets, never as glossy as their US cousins; they settled for a more down-to-earth (or stuck on earth) look. BBC TV’s Doctor Who (50 this year) had its hero trapped on earth to save on space travel for much of the 70s. For the far future, the crew of Blake's 7 spent an awful lot of time in contemporary power stations. Day Of The Triffids’ desolate London streets and deadly plants seemed far creepier than Star Trek ever could. ITV’s The Tomorrow People and Sapphire And Steel were earthbound and concerned themselves with telepathy and time rather than space.

So ‘Troublemaker’ is a tribute to the British Sci-Fi of yesteryear, low budget and futuristic in an 80s way. It’s also a postcard from Glasgow. It occurred to me that cult Sci-Fi classic Death Watch (1980) being filmed in our fair city gave us an opportunity to re-visit some of the shots from there, thirty three years on. We hope we’ve done these shows justice and it recreates a feel that made geeks of so many of us back in the day."

You can watch the video here or in the player below.
 

Currently on maternity leave (Tracyanne has just become a mum), Camera Obscura have recently released a special edition double 7" vinyl featuring recent singles 'Do It Again' and 'Break It To You Gently' plus two brand new songs 'Making Money' and 'Swallows'. More on that here. They hope to make a live return in 2014.