Let’s Get Out of This Country by Camera Obscura

Let's Get Out of This Country, the third album from Glasgow's Camera Obscura, arrived in 2006, and it's the record where the band stopped being filed as Belle and Sebastian's little cousins. They took the songs to Sweden to record with producer Jari Haapalainen, and Björn Yttling of Peter Bjorn and John handled the arrangements. The songs swoon and sweep, big-hearted pop drama wrapped around Tracyanne Campbell's cool, rueful voice.

Campbell writes about heartbreak, boredom and the urge to bolt, and she makes all three sound irresistible. Carey Lander's keyboards, Kenny McKeeve's guitar, Gavin Dunbar's bass and Lee Thomson's drums keep the whole thing gliding. Critics loved it, four singles came off it, and "Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken" is the one that has kept rock radio's countdowns coming back for more. It led on to My Maudlin Career.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.