Tracyanne Campbell leads her band through a set of satisfyingly bittersweet indie pop at the Bluebird on Monday. Photos by .
Thunder and cold rain didn’t deter a surprisingly large crowd from gathering on Monday night at to see Scottish Indie-pop band . Cheers erupted as soon as lead singer Traceyanne Campbell stepped up to the microphone. “I see you didn’t get struck by lightning coming out tonight,” she said in her charming Glasgow accent. Her quick, candid humor immediately warmed up the audience, and while they laughed, she picked up her guitar and began to play the title track from her band’s new album, “My Maudlin Career.”
Backed by a buzzy guitar riff, Campbell’s sultry voice was bright but vulnerable, her lyrics tracing the path of another tortured romance — but with her trademark wry, sardonic humor.
To her right, it was impossible not to notice Carey Lander, the beautiful redhead at the keyboards. During the second song, “Swan,” also off the current album, Lander took a brief solo on a small xylophone, which drew applause. More familiar material came with “Teenager” and “Let’s Get Out of This Country,” which featured the most furious and intense triangle solo of any song I’ve seen performed.
The hoots and hollers went silent during “James,” a new acoustic song that ended with Campbell on her knees and surrounded in green light, dramatically taking the audience down to the few last, soft, fading notes.
An encore of two songs produced, predictably, the already-classic “Lloyd, I’m Ready to Be Heartbroken,” with its church-organ keyboard intro and hilarious titular chorus. Strangely lacking was Camera Obscura’s other previous big hit, “Suspended from Class.” Instead, the band played a song I didn’t recognize, most likely from the new album. Still, the audience was receptive and enthusiastic, seemingly happy to have enjoyed a night of solidly beautiful songwriting.
Kevin Galaba is a Denver-based writer and a regular contributor to Reverb.
Nina Barry is a Denver freelance photographer, artist and contributor to the . See more of her work .
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