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New Musical Express

My Maudlin Career is the kind of record that exists to reward those both mad, and sad, in love.

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Drowned In Sound

Occasionally shrouded in sadness but with happiness always beating from its core, My Maudlin Career lays bare the sweet melancholy of love.

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Paste Magazine

It’s an infectious album that blooms repeatedly throughout, unfolding in muted, endearing aural hues; simultaneously sad and celebratory, and always charming.

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Pitchfork

Maturity is a central concept to Camera Obscura--Campbell's found it in her singing, but in her lyrics, the search continues. The asymmetries in her personality give her songs their distinct character.

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Lost At Sea

Clever, catchy, and moody, Maudlin Career is what contemporary pop music should be. It is wholly as satisfying as Campbell is unsatisfied.

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Filter

The echo-chamber drums and forlorn strings crescendos that epitomize Camera Obscura's discography blossom on standouts like the Ronettes-like single 'French Navy,' country-rocker 'Forest And Sands,' and full-band travelogue pouter 'The Sweetest Thing.' [Spring 2009, p.100]

Mojo

Her Dusty-meetsNancy tones glide as imperiously over violin-caressed opener 'French Navy' as on lustrous indie-country upgrade 'You Told A Lie,' reaching sublime lvels of heartache on the Spectoresque title track. [Jun 2009, p.109]

Q Magazine

Campbell's gorgeous, heartbreaking and--well--maudlin songs deserve to be heard by an audience far wider than Camera Obscura's current cult- indie-pop devoteees. [Jun 2009, p.119]

Delusions of Adequacy

As a unit, the group amassed some of the best music of their careers onto this singular, ‘effusively sentimental,’ career.

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PopMatters

The band’s finest work, My Maudlin Career continues the pop rush we’ve come to expect from Camera Obscura but also develops the band’s sound and identity in significant ways.

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Billboard

The result is a flawless blend of sunny pop, Motown, blues and jazz with the cleanest production in Camera Obscura's catalog.

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Dot Music

My Maudlin Career offers soul and sophistication in abundance.

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No Ripcord

My Maudlin Career is a wonderful set of songs and can deservedly sit alongside Let’s Get Out Of This Country while showcasing how far Camera Obscura have come since their patchy yet charming début, Biggest Bluest Hi-Fi.

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Observer Music Monthly

This, their fourth album, feels like a breakthrough, more polished and poised to build on cult 2006 single 'Lloyd, Are You Ready to Be Heartbroken?'

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All Music Guide

If My Maudlin Career falls a tiny bit short of "Let's Get Out of This Country," and it does, it's only because that album was so wonderful.

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cokemachineglow

My Maudlin Career is just such a uniformly endearing record. It’s sentimental, yes, but pleasantly so, charming in its own little way.

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Prefix Magazine

Over the course of one great LP (2004’s "Underachievers Please Try Harder"), one pretty great one (2006’s "Let’s Get Out of This Country"), and now My Maudlin Career, Camera Obscura have arrived at a sound centered on Campbell’s self-reflective loneliness and their lifting of all the best of ‘60s music--a sound they own by themselves.

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Slant Magazine

Luckily, for both the album and its audience, the band's perseverance results in hits more often than misses.

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Spin

On their fourth album, this Scottish indie-pop band's fondness for woeful heartache and Phil Spector–esque production reaches a poignant peak.

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musicOMH.com

It's the musical equivalent of the death of Bambi's mother: exquisitely rendered, but, once experienced for the first time, you need to steel yourself for subsequent visits.

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Under The Radar

While the twinkling piano of the title track illustrates the sort of contained feeling that reminds us why the bar was set so high to begin with. Only the dull 'Careless Love' and unnecessary album closer 'Honey In The Sun' detract. [Spring 2009, p.65]

Alternative Press

It might sound formulaic, if it weren't so gorgeous. [Jun 2009, p.102]

Tiny Mix Tapes

My Maudlin Career may not be the kind of album that breaks new ground or does anything particularly forward-looking musically, but what it lacks in that department it more than makes up for with intelligent pop hooks and some of the loveliest string arrangements of recent memory.

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The Onion (A.V. Club)

The songs work best when the band sticks to the balsa-wood wall of sound formula; they get into a spot of trouble when trying something different.

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Uncut

Nothing is a strong as 'Hey Lloyd...' and Traceyanne Campbell's lachrymose croon is struggling to find new melodies, but on tracks like 'French Navy' and 'Honey In The Sun,' CO remain heartbreakingly lucid. [May 2009, p.80]

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this album is 8.9 (out of 10) based on 17 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

James B gave it a9:
Pure unbridled bliss! So melodic, so beautifully sad, so absolutely awesome!

smithsgirl gave it a9:
This is a great album, make no mistake, yet it doesn't quite reach the dizzying and beautiful heights of Underachievers or Let's Get Out. Nor quite have the immediacy of those two albums. Still if it's the album which gives them their deserved and long overdue breakthrough, I'm not complaining. If My Maudlin Career is your first foray into Camera Obscura, check out their earlier stuff, it will delight you even more.

Tim E gave it a10:
This bands catalog of music has been flawless thus far and this new masterpiece is no exception. Band of the decade. Sheer brilliance in every note. It wont get better than this all year. Pure Bliss.

dephot gave it a9:
My Maudlin Career finds Camera Obscura at their peak. Full control over their best of times/worst of times dynamic wrapped in infectious melodies and nectar infused vocals. The songwriting is a logical next move from their breakthrough "Let's Get out of this Country" from 2006. Tracyanne Campbell has written some gems here. "James" "French Navy" & My Maudlin Career" are great places to start. Great album.

matt a gave it a9:
So glad that this album is doing well on here. My favorite of the year thus far.

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