Camera Obscura is an obscure English synth project from the early 80’s. Recently they made a come-back with an LP, a concert and a website!
A good thing from the recent vogue of minimal analogue electronic music is that many interesting acts are rediscovered which were gathering dust in forgotten archives. Camera Obscura is a good example. The project was started by Peter & Nigel in the winter of 1982. They released a single with four tracks called Destitution on Small Wonder Records in the spring of 1983. It became a small hit in the Independent charts and is now pretty rare!
Quite a few concerts followed, but also problematic deals with (major) record labels. Various tracks were recorded, but never released due to different reasons. Line-up changes followed and other projects were started, like a company for film music and other media productions. Just a few years after their founding, Camera Obscura began to live a dormant existence.
The story could have ended here. But there is news. The new label Anna Logue Records has released the LP Horizons of Suburbia (listen to samples). This ten track album comprises many unreleased tracks from the band dating back to 1983, including early versions of Destitution and Race in Athens. A four-track EP of live material has also been announced. Furthermore Peter and Nigel are playing live in Hannover on the 8th of October 2005, their first performance together since 1984!
On their website you can read about the past and present of Camera Obscura. There are some nice nostalgic band pictures to watch, and also the indie charts from 1983…
