Keyboardobit: Carey Lander

Camera Obscura keyboardist and singer Carey Lander has died. The band issued a statement via Facebook:

It is with the greatest sadness, that we must share the news that Carey passed away peacefully this morning after her illness with cancer. We have lost our friend and band mate, and our deepest sympathy goes out to her partner Kenny, and to all her family and friends.

The next part of the statement is important - Carey's fundraising goes on:

She was touched by the way you all got behind her campaign for Sarcoma UK and you can still donate here: https://www.justgiving.com/Carey-Lander

We shall be continuing to help promote the campaign on her behalf.

She was left in no doubt how much you all loved and appreciated her, and we'd like to thank you all for the support and kind words you have been sending to us and her. The band, our music, and all of you who have enjoyed it over the years, meant so much to her.

Thank you all, Tracyanne, Gavin, Kenny and Lee x

That URL again? https://www.justgiving.com/Carey-Lander. Go give something.

Camera Obscura: Not just for Christmas

Doing their bit to try and un-ruin a Christmas ruined by the X Factor, Camera Obscura are doing a cover of Jim Reeve's The Blizzard. It won't trouble the charts - because life isn't all Christmas miracles - but it should warm our hearts a bit.

Embed and breakfast man: Camera Obscura

BBC One might have dropped the ball in providing Bank Holiday viewing - Mousehunt? Really? Didn't I order every print of that movie burned after a miserable forty minutes watching it in the pissing rain at Glastonbury before suddenly realising I was giving myself pneumonia to watch something with Lee Evans in it?

So, in order to give you something a bit more worthwhile to watch, here's Camera Obscura doing some good work for Pitchfork:

Twittergem: Camera Obscura

From @camera_obscura_:

Have smuggled a cornetto into the Ben & Jerry's festival. Don't tell anyone. K

Camera Obscura: Plans less obscure

April brings not just the joy of bunnies shaped like chocolate and eggs wrapped in foil that represent Jesus in some way, but also a tour from Camera Obscura. And an album, My Maudlin Career. And a single, French Navy. Which sounds like this:



These would be the tour dates:

Tues 21st April - Academy 2, Newcastle

Weds 22nd April - Club Academy, Manchester

Thurs 23rd April - Shepherd's Bush Empire, London

Fri 24th April - The Assembly, Leamington Spa

Sat 25th April - The Leadmill, Sheffield

Sun 26th April - Barrowlands Ballroom, Glasgow

Weds 29th April - The Stiff Kitten, Belfast

Thurs 30th April - Andrew’s Lane Theatre, Dublin

Take your Camera: Obscura tour

Another wide-ranging, world-scraping tour flopped out of the magic planner, with Camera Obscura plotting an astonishing jaunt:

June 01 Madrid, Spain - Indyspensable
02 London, England - Cheltenham Racecourse (Wychwood Festival)
03 Leeds, England - The Wardrobe
July 06 Roskilde, Denmark - Roskilde Festival
07 Kinross, Scotland - T in the Park Festival
21 Benicassim, Spain - Benicassim Festival
August 02 Alentejo, Portugal - Sudoeste Festival
21 Baltimore, MD - Sonar
22 Philadelphia, PA - Theatre of Living Arts
24 New York, NY - Pier 17 (Seaport Music Festival)
25 Montreal, Quebec - Le National
26 Toronto, Ontario - Phoenix

Candid Camera

Interesting moment on Marc Riley's Brain Surgery last week, when he asked session guests Camera Obscura if they'd appeared to have sold out by allowing Tesco to use one of their tracks ("just to naive people" was their response.) They then revealed they'd not really been paid all that much - which would make sense: Tesco screw over the farmers for the produce the advert was promoting; why would they pay a decent rate ("I don't even know that we could eat on [what they paid alone]") for the soundtrack?