Camera Obscura - Lloyd I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken (Elefant)
UK release date: 15 May 2006
If you can get over the fact that ideas such as this should never be allowed to escape from sixth-form common rooms, Camera Obscura's sing-along reply to the Lloyd Cole and the Commotions' Are You Ready To Be Heartbroken is a sweet slice of '80s guitars and indie-pop sensibilities that lives up to the benchmark you'd expect from a band who made John Peel's Festive 50 three times.
Singer and guitarist Tracyanne Campbell has been unashamed in admitting that the single is a deliberate stab at success for the band, who have spent 10 years honing fey acoustic tunesmithery only to see the likes of Belle and Sebastian steal their crown.
There's no denying that to some extent it's a novelty record, but they're not a one-trick pony, as proved by the end-of-pier organs and lazy summer days B-sides of Phil And Don, and Roman Holiday (not about what you might think, given the two previous tracks). The single also comes with the video to I Love My Jean, a John Peel poem about his wife, which the band put to music for his 2004 Burns Night party. When a single comes with rock credentials like this, how can you not buy it?
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