Camera Obscura & Anni Rossi @ Webster Hall in NYC - pics

June 25, 2009

words and photos by Dominick Mastrangelo

The perpetual rain provided a fitting backdrop to the melancholy pop of Glasgow’s Camera Obscura at Webster Hall on Wednesday (6/24). The Scottish five-piece were more comfortable in the songs from their new record, My Maudlin Career, since March when they road tested new material at two warmup shows in New York.

Lead singer Tracyanne Campbell’s voice was every bit as fragile-sounding as it is on the record always sounding as if she’s ready to break into a good cry, especially on Maudlin‘s slow-moving “James.” The band was without bassist Gavin Dunbar who left the tour last week following a death in the family. That resulted in the band cancelling two of their shows.

MTV, not so surprisingly, supplied the head-scratching moment of the night courtesy of a member of the game show Silent Library as he clattered in and knocked over people, and generally disrupted everyone’s enjoyment of the show near the stage. Only the restraint of several in the audience kept him from getting pummelled. Campbell even took notice from the stage, shooting a wary eye, mid-song, toward the pushing and shoving going on before her.

Songs like “Let’s Get Out Of This Country” and “Hey Lloyd I’m Ready To Be Heartbroken” received plenty of applause at their introduction and for the encore the band opened with a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Tougher Than The Rest” before the set-closing standard “Razzle Dazzle Rose” and its crescendo building flourish.

Anni Rossi opened the show. More pictures below…