Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career

French Navy - 3
The Sweetest Thing - 3
You Told A Lie - 3
Away With Murder - 3
Swans - 3
James - 3
Carless Love - 3
My Maudlin Career - 3
Forest And Sands - 3
Other Towns And Cities - 3
Honey In The Sun - 4
Total - 34 stars / 11 tracks = 3.09 stars, normalized to 2.9 stars

My feelings toward My Maudlin Career are not dissimilar to how I felt about Camera Obscura's 2006 album, Let's Get Out Of This Country, except for the fact that this album stuck with me even less. There's nothing really wrong with this music, but I would have trouble taking anyone seriously who tried to convince me that it is great.

I imagine a great deal of my opinion has to do with the style of music that Camera Obscura decides to devote itself to. "Twee Pop," as it's called, creates a pleasant listening experience that takes effort to take seriously. It's entirely possible for someone to use this style to write a song about philosophy, racial tensions, or other heavy-handed subjects, but, it would have to overcome the inherent fluffiness of the genre. But, if you aren't going for any kind of stylistic irony or juxtaposition, you need to make sure that you make your pretty music as pretty as you can.