Music Preview: Camera Obscura and Anni Rossi Tonight At Antone's

Glasgow's Camera Obscura are about as pretty a pop band as one is ever likely to encounter. The "moods" column on AllMusic.com's review of their latest album is comically accurate: "warm, stylish, springlike, sophisticated, soothing, pastoral, lush, and innocent." The band have been honing a sound that mixes a love of Phil Spector production and Belle and Sebastian twee for nearly fourteen years, and have quietly become one of the most reliable indie-pop acts out there in terms of consistency and quality. Camera Obscura have actually already visited Austin this year, as their recent signing to 4AD had the band showcasing their material at SXSW in gigs at Central Presbyterian Church and La Zona Rosa back in March. If you like what you've heard of them in the past, they haven't changed, and if you've not heard them, fans of Hope Sandoval or The Sundays will find much to admire here. Camera Obscura return to Antone's this evening and will likely have far longer than 35 minutes to show off their beautiful songs from both this year's My Maudlin Career and their extensive back catalog. For those of you reading this right when it posts, they're also stopping into Waterloo Records for a "late lunch" in-store at 1pm complete with free Austin's Pizza. Is there anywhere besides Austin that you could catch a free Scottish pop concert and have a free lunch on a summer Monday?

Opening tonight's show is the wonderful Anni Rossi, another 4AD artist who impressed a number of SXSW attendees and critics with her voice and viola-based performances. Rossi's sound is commanding even without a full band, and the fact that her album was produced by Steve Albini but she plays covers of Ace Of Base tunes reveals a showman's savvy to Rossi that we quite admire.

All told, this is a rewarding no-brainer of a double bill for an early week show at a reasonable hour. Arrive, swoon, sing, and repeat.

Camera Obscura: [official] [MySpace]
Anni Rossi: [official] [MySpace]