The rock fans who wanted to spend their Father’s Day dancing and covered with obscene amounts of sweat probably went to the Phoenix show at Rock and Roll Hotel. But while the fantastic Frenchmen went straight for the audience’s dancing feet and raised hands, the morose Scots of Camera Obscura took a different approach to connecting with their audience, going for their heartstrings and tear ducts. Camera Obscura’s song tempos range from downtrodden and dragging…
When delivered in an underwhelmed monotone voice, “We’re thrilled to be here” sounds like some sort of obligatory statement or truly pathetic joke. Thus, it was hard not to snort a little when The Twilight Sad’s James Graham first delivered that line from the stage at Rock and Roll Hotel Monday night, staring at his shoes. However, unlike some other underwhelmed-sounding Scots (Camera Obscura and Arab Strap come to mind), Graham’s demeanor immediately switched from…
We were as surprised as anyone to discover we had never done a Three Stars feature on Georgie James. With a big, heralded entrance onto everyone’s radar last year fueled by lots of live shows and an EP that won the hearts of pop lovers throughout the city, they became one of D.C.’s premiere bands. The band is driven by Laura Burhenn and John Davis (formerly of Q and Not U), doing their best take…
MONDAY>> We’re excited to see Glasgow indie-pop group Camera Obscura headlining the 930 Club tonight. We last saw them at the Black Cat and compared them to Belle and Sebastian. The group’s latest album, Let’s Get Out of This Country, is whimsical, romantic and will make you feel a little bit better about your life, or at least, this dreary weather. Vermont via Brooklyn band Essex Green opens. 9:30 p.m., $15. >> If your Fugazi…
Written by DCist contributor Ian Buckwalter D.C. music fans still lamenting the loss last fall of Q and not U had two reasons to celebrate last night. Not only was Georgie James, Q drummer John Davis’ new project with Laura Burhenn, playing yet another DC-area show, but they were playing with Scottish twee darlings Camera Obscura, who are so good at doing the “Belle and Sebastian thing” that it’s quite possible they may do it…
FRIDAY: >> Seems like everyone’s talking about the new nightlife options on H Street NE these days, thanks almost entirely to local bar Tsar Joe Englert. Englert’s latest creation, Showbar Presents the Palace of Wonders (though we hear a lot people refering to it simply as the Freak Show Bar) has been open for a few weeks already to mixed buzz — the decor is cool, the drinks are standard, and the food is…
From DCist contributor Catherine Andrews: Call them precious, call them twee, call them a second-rate Belle and Sebastian. Whatever you think of them, the Scottish pop group Camera Obscura brings its adorable act to the Iota in Arlington tonight. We really werent kidding about the second-rate Belle and Sebastian comparison, though. Seriously, check out the bizarre similarities between the two groups: both hail from Glasgow; each band has seven or more members; they maintain a…
