Camera Obscura Keeps Calm At Atlanta Gig

When the house lights dropped at Camera Obscura's show at Atlanta's Variety Playhouse Friday night, an eerie hush fell over the crowd. There was no deafening here-they-come applause; just silence, as if the band needed quiet in order to come onstage.

It was an odd feeling, but appropriate. The Scottish sextet, currently on a U.S. tour, to be followed by several dates in Australia, entered the muted, blue-lit stage to play a short and tight set of warm, delicate twee pop that seemed like it could have emerged from a sophisticated music box.

After the bouncy 'Swans,' taken from this year's acclaimed 'My Maudlin Career,' singer Tracyanne Campbell remarked that she was "hot and sweaty after the second song. Must be all this passion."

But for the most part, the passion wasn't physical. The atmosphere in the venue remained calm and understated, while the feeling Campbell spoke of could be heard in the band's melancholy romanticism, which shines through its gorgeous melodies, but could still use an extra boost of energy onstage.

The tour promotes 'My Maudlin Career' which, like 2006's 'Let's Get Out Of This Country,' was produced by Sweden's Jari Haapalainen. But in Atlanta the group threw in older favorites from their rapidly growing repertoire. With similar intensity, they worked through the cinematic pop of newer track 'The Sweetest Thing,' as well as the woozy 'Tears For Affairs' and the driving 'Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken.' No song marked a particular climax in the evening, but rather a consistency of emotional weight and energy.

The band wore a stylish, well-kept, '50s-inspired wardrobe of polka dots and suit vests, which in effect mirrored the night's performance.