• News

• All

Apr 09, 2024 By Mark Redfern Photography by Robert Perry

Scottish indie-pop band Camera Obscura are releasing their first new album in 11 years, Look to the East, Look to the West, on May 3 via Merge. Now they have shared its third single, “Liberty Print,” via a music video. Frontwoman Tracyanne Campbell wrote the song about her brother who died tragically at the age of 34. The song is the album’s opening track. Watch the video below, followed by the band’s upcoming tour dates.

“I like ‘Liberty Print’ because I think it’s the song that sounds most unlike anything we’ve done before,” says Campbell in a press release. “It introduces a new direction. It sounds fresh and exciting, and it introduces Donna [Maciocia] on keys in a big way. It was important to us that if we were to have a new player, that she be allowed to make her own creative stamp on the songs.”

Previously Camera Obscura shared the album’s first single, “Big Love,” via a music video. “Big Love” was #1 on our Songs of the Week list. Then they shared its second single, “We’re Going to Make It in a Man’s World,” which also made our Songs of the Week.

Camera Obscura released their first three albums via Merge, before switching to 4AD for their last two albums. The band haven’t released a new album since 2013’s Desire Lines, in large part due to the tragic and untimely passing due to cancer of founding member and keyboardist Carey Lander in 2015. Last year the band announced their return to Merge and announced some UK tour dates.

Tracyanne Campbell had a side-project, Tracyanne & Danny, with Danny Coughlan, that released a self-titled album in 2018 via Merge.

The band features founding members Tracyanne Campbell (vocals and guitar, Kenny McKeeve (guitar and vocals), Gavin Dunbar (bass), and Lee Thomson (drums and percussion), alongside newer member Donna Maciocia (keys and vocals). Maciocia has also become a regular songwriting partner with Campbell.

Jari Haapalainen, who produced Camera Obscura’s 2006 album Let’s Get Out of This Country and 2009’s My Maudlin Career, returned to produce Look to the East, Look to the West, which was recorded in the same room where Queen wrote “Bohemian Rhapsody.” A press release says that the album sees the band somewhat go “back to basics,” with no string or brass arrangements.

Read our 2006 interview with Camera Obscura.

Read our 2010 interview with Camera Obscura.

Read our 2010 interview with Camera Obscura’s Tracyanne Campbell on Grease.

Read our 2013 interview with Camera Obscura.

Read our 2013 joint interview between Tracyanne Campbell and Lloyd Cole.

Read our 2014 Artist Survey interview with Carey Lander of Camera Obscura.

Read our 2018 interview with Tracyanne and Danny.

Read our 2020 My Favorite Album interview with Tracyanne Campbell.

Camera Obscura 2024 Tour Dates:

Thu. May 2 - Hebden Bridge, UK @ The Trades Club
Sat. May 4 - Leeds, UK @ Stylus
Mon. May 6 - Manchester, UK @ Academy 2
Tue. May 7 - London, UK @ Koko
Thu. May 9 - Brighton, UK @ Concorde 2
Fri. May 10 - Birmingham, UK @ O2 Academy 2
Sat. May 11 - Glasgow, UK @ Barrowland Ballroom
Wed. May 29 - Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
Thu. May 30 - Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club
Fri. May 31 - Montreal, QC @ Theatre Fairmont
Sat. Jun. 1 - Toronto, ON @ The Concert Hall
Mon. Jun. 3 - Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall
Tue. Jun. 4 - Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line
Fri. Jun. 7 - Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile
Sat. Jun. 8 - Portland, OR @ Revolution Hall
Mon. Jun. 10 - San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore
Tue. Jun. 11 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Regent Theater
Wed. Jun. 12 - Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom
Fri. Jun. 14 - Dallas, TX @ Studio at the Factory
Sat. Jun. 15 - Austin, TX @ Scoot Inn
Mon. Jun. 17 - Atlanta, GA @ Variety
Tue. Jun. 18 - Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle
Wed. Jun. 19 - Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
Thu. Jun. 20 - New York, NY @ Webster Hall
Sat. Jun. 22-Mon. Jun 24 - Mexico City, MX @ Foro Indie Rocks!

Subscribe to Under the Radar’s print magazine.

Support Under the Radar on Patreon.