by LORRAINE CARPENTER

“You understand, then. You know how it feels to be a loser.”

This was Tracyanne Campbell’s response to my admission that, like her, I still listen to mix tapes on a Walkman, much to the eyebrowraising amazement and amusement of people on the street and in the bus. Campbell, the lead singer and songwriter for Glasgow’s Camera Obscura, isn’t entirely oldschool— she owns a Discman—but there’s something about the quest for the immaculate mix tape that drives her to the point of obsession.

“I’m trying to lighten up these days,” she says, “and not put [the tape] in the bin if I don’t think it’s perfect.” To help fellow compulsive compilers, Campbell has devoted part of her band’s Web site to sharing her track lists, while her bandmates write about their favourite books, films and recipes, as well as invite questions and make High Fidelity-esque “Top Fives”—Campbell says this is their effort to “try to pretend we’ve got personalities.”

As you can imagine, there’s no absence of melancholy and woe in Camera Obscura’s music, as camouflaged as it is by their ballroom pop sound. Their fifth album (and second North American release on Merge Records) is Let’s Get Out of This Country, a gorgeous collection of broken-hearted narratives that play out in front of a Motown, country and chamber-music backdrop. The band is often compared to Belle and Sebastian, with whom they shared a drummer back in the late ’90s, and whose Stuart Murdoch produced one of their early singles, but the nostalgic grace and weighty swing of their latest tunes are too bold to be so easily pegged.

The album was produced by Sweden’s Jari Haapalainen, who brought the band to Stockholm to record intensively for two weeks, a huge and important change from the band’s usual weekend sessions in Glasgow.

“It was time that we gave ourselves a shake and raised our game a bit,” says Campbell. “The only way I saw us achieving that was doing everything in a different way.” Although the title track was written before the band made plans to record abroad, Campbell felt that the sentiment was fitting in light of her desire for some new scenery.

“There was a time when I was bored with everything—my environment, myself, everything. But Glasgow’s not depressing. Like any city, it’s gonna have depressing elements, but it’s very beautiful, especially at this time of year. You know we’ve got more parks than any other city in the whole of Europe?” Campbell will get to explore Europe’s inferior green space on their upcoming tour, which brings them to North America for the second time.

Although the band has commented in the past that they have a strong following outside the U.K., but can’t get arrested at home, things are starting to look up on their turf.

“Our profile’s raised a little bit with the new record, definitely. Ears seem to be pricking up. All of a sudden, we’re not so uncool to like.”

WITH THE DIABLEROS AND LUCILLE AT LA SALA ROSSA ON WEDNESDAY, JULY 5, 9 P.M., $12

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