17 April 2006

camera obscura - "lloyd, i'm ready to be heartbroken" (from the hey lloyd, i'm ready to be heartbroken single, released may 9, available for purchase here.)

girls, be careful what you wish for : ask the lonely. i can understand the sentiment, the desire to feel something when you can't see "further than your nose." just last week, after the tempest, i was thinking, "hey dad, i'm ready for a sharp kick to the ribs," just to bring back what seemed like distant memories of sensation.

i've liked camera obscura before, but they often do sound like a band for people who thought belle & sebastian jumped the shark w/ the legal man e.p.

here, though, they've really got something wonderful. the "lloyd" in question is not lloyd dobler, but lloyd cole, though one could understand such a mix-up, while the song is a reply to mssr. cole's "are you ready to be heartbroken?"

it has the rush and sweep of lloyd's rattlesnakes, not to mention orchestration favorably comparable to anne dudley's work on that album. the overall effect is as if summer turned to fall w/ one fell swoop. the chorus tugs just as much, esp. near the end as the "hey"s become more desperate. "are you ready to be heartbroken?" is the question i'd ask of anyone considering hearing this song.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I do hope this means you're coming back. I meant to post way earlier and tell you how much I love your blog. At times, I've felt like we're living parallel lives- One week, I was freaking out over "Really Good Time" by Roxy Music, and I looked at your blog, and THERE was my song of the week! Even my girlfriend's 3-year-old was obsessed with Roxy Music that week- although, I think it may be just because she thinks the panther on the cover of "For Your Pleasure" is the singer. Would Brian Ferry be pleased? Also, just a few weeks ago, my brother and I were talking about writing a response song to Lloyd Cole. We were gonna call it, "You got weird on us, babe." Maybe the Camera Obscura's idea is better. -Danny Offer

Anonymous said...

Oh, and by the way, that Scott Walker song is CRAZY! I could probably only handle listening to it once a year, but that one day a year would certainly be spooky. -Danny