Camera Obscura are back. A staple of aughts twee, the Scottish group has announced its first new album in over a decade, Look to the East, Look to the West, which arrives May 3 via Merge. The follow-up to 2013’s Desire Lines is led by the new song “Big Love,” featuring pedal steel by Tim Davidson. Watch the video for the track below.
In 2015, the band’s longtime keyboardist, Carey Lander, died after being diagnosed with bone cancer. Camera Obscura went on an extended hiatus to grieve, but kept in touch during this period, eventually reuniting for a few shows. During this time, founding members Kenny McKeeve, Gavin Dunbar, and Lee Thomson tapped Donna Maciocia to join them in Lander’s place and began writing songs that would become the backbone of Look to the East, Look to the West.
Camera Obscura will also embark on a world tour in support of the new album. Beginning in Hebden Bridge, England, on May 2, the band will perform live across Europe before flying to North America for summer dates. See Camera Obscura’s full list of tour dates below.
Read about Camera Obscura’s Let’s Get Out of This Country at No. 179 in “The 200 Best Albums of the 2000s.”
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Look to the East, Look to the West:
01 Liberty Print
02 We’re Going to Make It in a Man’s World
03 Big Love
04 Only a Dream
05 The Light Nights
06 Sleepwalking
07 Baby Huey (Hard Times)
08 Denon
09 Pop Goes Pop
10 Sugar Almond
11 Look to the East, Look to the West
Camera Obscura:
05-02 Hebden Bridge, England – The Trades Club
05-04 Leeds, England – Stylus
05-06 Manchester, England – Academy 2
05-07 London, England – Koko
05-09 Brighton, England – Concorde 2
05-10 Birmingham, England – O2 Academy 2
05-11 Glasgow, Scotland – Barrowland Ballroom
05-29 Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer
05-30 Boston, MA – Paradise Rock Club
05-31 Montreal, Quebec – Theatre Fairmont
06-01 Toronto, Ontario – The Concert Hall
06-03 Chicago, IL – Thalia Hall
06-04 Minneapolis, MN – Fine Line
06-07 Seattle, WA – The Crocodile
06-08 Portland, OR – Revolution Hall
06-10 San Francisco, CA – The Fillmore
06-11 Los Angeles, CA – The Regent Theater
06-12 Phoenix, AZ – Crescent Ballroom
06-14 Dallas, TX – Studio at the Factory
06-15 Austin, TX – Scoot Inn
06-17 Atlanta, GA – Variety
06-18 Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle
06-19 Washington, D.C. – 9:30 Club
06-20 New York, NY – Webster Hall
06-22 Mexico City, Mexico – Foro Indie Rocks!
