Camera Obscura – “Troublemaker” (video)

Desire Lines didn’t have the staying power of Camera Obscura‘s previous albums because of the lack of a clear-cut single (“Lloyd, I’m Ready to be Heartbroken”, “French Navy”, “Sweetest Thing”). But that didn’t mean it was bad. Camera Obscura have made a video for “Troublemaker,” one of the better songs off the parent LP, beginning with a dreariness typical of 4AD stuff that immediately gives way to Tracyanne Campbell’s sweetness (lines like “We turn the TV off / It’s old, makes the sound of a saltshaker” and her mission statement, “I’m a troublemaker,” rings more like she wants to be one, rather than she actually is). On the video, Gavin Dunbar notes, “‘Troublemaker’ is a tribute to the British sci-fi of yesteryear, low budget and futuristic in an ’80s way. It’s also a postcard from Glasgow.” On the latter, a cameo from Stuart Murdoch (of Belle and Sebastian fame) couldn’t hurt.