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Jun 07, 2018 By Christopher Roberts Camera Obscura

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Tracyanne & Danny, is a new project from Camera Obscura frontwoman Tracyanne Campbell and Danny Coughlan (who has previously released music as Crybaby). Their self-titled debut album, Tracyanne & Danny, came out a couple of weeks back via Merge (it was our Album of the Week). Now they have shared an amusing video for the album’s string-swept duet “It Can’t Be Love Unless It Hurts.” Ed Dougherty directed the black & white video in which Tracyanne & Danny haunt an old bed & breakfast and the young couple that run it. It kind of feels a bit like a funny take on the 2001-released haunted house movie The Others, starring Nicole Kidman. Watch it below, followed by the duo’s upcoming tour dates.

Director Ed Dougherty had this to say about the video in a press release: “One of my obsessions is The Amityville Horror. Most people don’t know it was proven to be a hoax, but it was, and the story of how they pulled it off is way more interesting to me than any haunted house story. We made this with a four-person crew in Scotland, with all of us wearing many hats, and three of us appearing in the video as actors.”

Teenage Fanclub fans may recognize that band’s drummer, Francis Macdonald, who is credited as playing “The Hollywood Bigshot.”

In a previous press release Campbell said the song is about “an old, obsessive, all-consuming love. The kind that’s mostly unrequited and always built from bad choices and self-delusion.”

Previously Tracyanne & Danny shared a teaser trailer for the project and their lovely first single, “Home & Dry” (which was our #1 Song of the Week). Then the duo shared a second song from the album, “Alabama,” via a music video (it was our #2 Song of the Week). They also shared the audio for “It Can’t Be Love Unless It Hurts” (which was also one of our Songs of the Week).

Camera Obscura understandably haven’t had much activity since the tragic and untimely passing due to cancer of founding member and keyboardist Carey Lander in 2015. The band’s last album was 2013’s Desire Lines. Campbell is from Glasgow, whereas the London-born Coughlan is Bristol-based. They were introduced by mutual friends in 2013 and Campbell liked his music as Crybaby and asked him to open for Camera Obscura. They worked on songs together, but the project was shelved for Campbell to focus on Desire Lines. After Camera Obscura went on hiatus the duo revisited the project and recorded the album at Clashnarrow, Edwyn Collins’ studio in the Scottish Highlands. Collins co-produced the album along with engineer and multi-instrumentalist Sean Read (Dexys Midnight Runners), using Collins’ vintage gear. A previous press release said mutual influences on Tracyanne & Danny include “The Roches, Dion, Lou Reed, The Flamingos, Serge Gainsbourg, Santo & Johnny, and The Style Council.”

Campbell said in the previous press release that the album is “melodic, musical, and murdery. It’s not a duet record. We’ve tried our best to marry our voices, songs, and melodies.”

Tracyanne & Danny Tour Dates:

Jun 13 Birmingham, AL - Saturn*
Jun 14 Atlanta, GA - Terminal West*
Jun 15 Durham, NC - Motorco*
Jun 16 Washington, DC - Union Stage*
Jun 17 Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda’s*
Jun 19 Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg*
Jun 21 Cambridge, MA - The Sinclair*
Jun 22 Montreal, QC - Le Ministère*
Jun 23 Toronto, ON - The Great Hall*
Jun 24 Detroit, MI - El Club*
Jun 25 Pittsburgh, PA - Club Cafe*
Jun 27 Chicago, IL - Lincoln Hall*
Jun 28 St. Paul, MN - Turf Club*

* w/ Lomelda

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