Desire Lines | Loppylugs

Submitted by Glyn Lewis on 18 February 2015 - 9:48pm

Cover:

Artist:

Camera Obscura

album-ID:

a_163

Nationality:

Year:

2 013

Release-year:

0000

Num-of-tracks:

Track-listing:

Intro*This Is Love (Feels Alright)*Troublemaker*William's Heart*New Year's Resolution*Do It Again*Cri Du Coeur*Every Weekday*Fifth In Line To The Throne*I Missed Your Party*Break It to You Gently*Desire Lines

Length-in-mins:

Nominator:

Bean

meeting-ID:

m_63

Now-num:

2 015

Spotify-URL:

6bzPRpKOfTSZuZZCKB4jxA

Grooveshark-URL:

Desire+Lines/8872870

Short-title:

desireLines

nominator-ID:

u_1

Meeting-date:

Saturday, 28 March 2015

MusicBrainz-URL:

dca73652-b781-4add-ac85-89d43c79d117

Wikipedia-URL:

Desire_Lines

Spotify-link-type:

album

Metacritic-URL:

desire-lines/camera-obscura

Discogs-URL:

Camera-Obscura-Desire-Lines/master/562450

Allmusic-URL:

album/desire-lines-mw0002542761

rdio-URL:

Camera_Obscura/album/Desire_Lines

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reviewers-IDs data

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73

reviewed by

Glyn Lewis

One more time around

6-7-9-10

This reminds me most obviously of Belle & Sebastian, which I know isn’t necessarily what everyone wants from life. Also I couldn’t help feel there were hints of The Sundays, Saint Etienne, EBTG and even Texas – perhaps I’m talking myself into trouble now. Although there are twists in the lyrics, it’s really straight-ahead cutesy indie pop stuff but it is just done so well. There’s strong songs from beginning to end and she’s got a lovely, emotive voice.

They’ve got some delightful tunes, with little, perfect guitar lines. It’s all very neat and tidy and goes exactly where you’d expect, but I am partial to a bit of straight forward every now and again. There are criticisms that could be made of it being over-pretty and risk-averse and so on but to me that is just wanting the band to be a different band to who they are. If I want something more challenging I’ve got plenty to chose from, if I want some gorgeous, happy-yet-sad pop confection I find it difficult to imagine this being bettered.
65

reviewed by

Mike Beaton

Whimsy-Pop

9

5-10

This album is a little slice of whimsy-pop. That doesn’t have to be a bad thing, but to work for me, that type of offering needs to be leavened by a little self-awareness or irony. Belle and Sebastian – a somewhat comparable group, in terms of style and geographical origins – have those missing ingredients. Desire Lines, on the other hand, is something like Belle and Sebastian lite – which is very lite indeed. Many other comparisons spring to mind, but each time with the same complaint. The album could also be likened to Tanya Donelly without the (metaphorical) balls; or to the early Sugar Cubes, but without the rawness or sexiness. The list could go on. Without wanting to plough in too strongly, the album also features not one, but two tracks which seem to be mainly inspired by George Michael’s Last Christmas (track 5, New Year’s Resolution, and track 10, I Missed Your Party). That is two too many.

On the plus side, Tracyanne Campbell can sing; and the rest of her group can play; and it is all very cleanly produced. Everything is very polished here, no complaints about that. It’s just that it’s perfectly polished 80’s pop lite. Too lite for this reviewer.

(One more thing… I once asked a friend whose musical taste I admire and respect, but who – unbelievably to me, at that time – did not like Van Morrison, how anybody could not like Van Morrison. She replied: “It’s just too like Muzak.” I didn’t change my mind about Van the Man, and I’m not about to; but her answer helped clarify for me what the disconnect was, between our two quite different ways of listening to the same music. To those who still like this album, I offer this anecdote as a way of explaining my best guess as to what went wrong here!)
60

reviewed by

Matthew Baker

Indie Pop yeah

4-5

Well-crafted fey indie pop. Not enough hwinners on this album overall, but the good songs I did enjoy. The singer has a nice voice with an extra tremular quality adding to the overall emotion.

Would like to hear a 'best of' and would go and see them live.
60

reviewed by

Richard Norbury
58

reviewed by

Neil Hornsey

Niiice

4-9

5

I find this frustratingly nice, too safe, too pleasant, which makes most tracks end up sounding a bit middle of the road. There's also some very cheesy sounds throughout - on many occasions I'm reminded of 80s european discos with the synths and programmed rhythm section. In particular, New Year's Resolution reminds me of Stevie Wonder's I Just Called...!

Despite all that, it's actually listenable and frustratingly enjoyable at times. William's Heart and Fifth In Line.. are particularly notable.