“French Navy” opens the album withorchestral flair, introducing a handsome sailor who fails to sweep Campbell off her feet.
“You and your dietary restriction,” shesings, unmoved. “Said you loved me with a lot of conviction/ I was waiting tobe struck by lightning/ Waiting for somebody exciting.”
That rejection sets the tone for the restof My Maudlin Career. If that dashingsailor can’t make lightning strike, then the album’s subsequent suitors don’tstand a chance.
“Oh, you want to be a writer? Fantasticidea,” the Scottish songbird condescends to another admirer, her cynicismdisguised as usual by the pretty ache in her voice. “You say you’ve never seen America?/ Ireally think you’d like it there.”
Campbell’sproblem is that as a touring musician she has seen Americaand much of the rest of theworld, tooso she’s too well-versed to swoon over lovers less worldly than her.And though on album closer “Honey in the Sun” she longs to have a partner byher side when she spends a night in Mexico City or gazes at the Southern Cross constellation, sheunderstands the reality that touring precludes such companionship. My Maudlin Career is, in a way, a tourdiary.
“A lot of the lyrics were written whilewe were touring,” Campbellsays. “And sitting in the bus looking out the window, you see lots oflandscapes, so a lot of the time I’m writing about all these sights: thedesert, the forests, the seas.”
For MyMaudlin Career, the songs came quickly. “The muse just landed and I wasinspired to write,” Campbellrecalls. “It was really pretty fast, but that’s not to say writing songs isalways that easy.”
The recording sessions, too, weredeceptively quick. Though the group’s rich arrangements and regal stringssuggest studio perfectionism, Campbellinsists the band doesn’t labor over its recordings.
“I understand our records sound quitefull, like there’s so much going on, but really there isn’t that much going on,” Campbellsays. “We’re on a budget, so we don’t have the luxury of being able to spendmonths in a studio. And really, we like recording quickly anyway. For thisalbum, we recorded the basic tracks in five or six days, before going back foroverdubs. We like to seize the moment.”
In that respect, the group’s output iseven more like classic girl-group records than it sounds on the surface, sincethose old records weren’t so labored, either.
“We liked the idea that those Motownrecords were made quickly, with all these musicians piling into the studio,” Campbell says. “There’snothing perfect about those Motown recordings. If you listen closely to thosesongs you’ll hear all these spontaneous moments and mistakes.”
So does that mean My Maudlin Career is filled with mistakes?
“I don’t think there are any major mistakes,” Campbell says. “There are odd flaws here andthere. I’m not going to point them out, though.”
CameraObscura headlines an 8 p.m. bill at Turner Hall Ballroom on Saturday, Nov. 28,with opener Papercuts.
