Camera Obscura
Esplanade Concert Hall/Wednesday

Scottish band Camera Obscura seem at once dated and timeless.
They came on stage in dresses and ensembles of collared shirts and pants, with nary a T-shirt or a pair of jeans in sight.
Lead vocalist Tracyanne Campbell was in a cream outfit with white stockings and the entire group could have been out for a quiet night on the town - circa the 1950s.
But like fellow Glaswegian band Belle & Sebastian, also formed in 1996, they mine a rich vein of timeless melodic pop paired with arch observations.
Sample lyric: You're not a teenager/So don't act like one/Sure she is a heart-breaker/Does she have one?
For most of the 80-minute set though, the near-capacity crowd of 1,500 were content to stay in their seats.
The line-up was heavy on tracks from their last two albums Let's Get Out Of This Country (2006) and Underachievers Please Try Harder (2003), and fans were also treated to three songs from their forthcoming album.
Campbell's voice, however, was decidedly less ethereal and dainty compared to the recordings. The iffy lower range and flattening of the higher notes pointed to her vocal limitations in a live setting.
The fact that the band were static on stage, barely budging from their positions throughout the show, did not help.
It took a while for the crowd to warm up and during an early lull between songs, someone yelled 'It's oh so quiet' to scattered laughter.
Still, the band injected some welcome surprises into the set, segueing into Paul Simon's You Can Call Me Al from Let's Get Out Of This Country and leaving their stamp on a cover of Abba's Super Trouper.
By this time, the fans were won over by Campbell's unassuming, low-key charm. Before launching into Super Trouper, she noted: 'Just for the record, we actually didn't write this song.'
Responding to shouted-out requests for obscure numbers such as San Francisco Song, she demurred: 'It's always amusing when people ask us for songs we've forgotten how to play.'
The track that finally roused the house was If Looks Could Kill, with its thumping bass-line and joyous hand-claps. It prompted Campbell to quip: 'We need to write a few more songs that can get us that reaction.'
On the closing number Razzle Dazzle Rose, Camera Obscura proved that, unlike their namesake - an optical device - they were no dated curiosity, pulling off an exquisitely drawn-out finale that drew enthusiastic claps and cheers.
(ST)