Black Mirror: 4 bands (and 1 song) named after optical devices
Camera Obscura isn't the only band you'll see (Get it? See?)
Camera Obscura
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Scottish indie-pop band Camera Obscura comes Saturday to Turner Hall, and in the group's honor, we've collected a few optics-related musical entities—from strange convex mirrors to practical automotive components to squishy bits of human anatomy.
Optical apparatus: Camera obscura
What it is: A box with a mirror and a small hole that allows in light, which gets flipped upside down and projected against a surface. The resulting image shows depth even in its flatness, an attribute that allows artists to sketch the captured scene free of distortion. Some, including the painter David Hockney, think the camera obscura and similar aids were largely responsible for the development of one-point perspective during the Renaissance.
Relevant musical counterpart: The band's first albums sounded like those of a Belle And Sebastian clone. (It's no surprise—B&S frontman Stuart Murdoch produced the debut.) Though, the last two releases, Let's Get Out Of This Country and My Maudlin Career, have seen the band experiment with lush harmonies, sophisticated arrangements, and the strong pipes of lead singer Tracyanne Campbell.
Optical apparatus: Headlights
What it is: Car-mounted lamps covered by a translucent reflective surface, which compounds the brilliance of the light source and allows drivers to see the road when it’s dark outside.
Relevant musical counterpart: Headlights. The band is currently touring behind its third full-length, Wildlife. (The band plays Milwaukee on Dec. 5.) Though the band's sophomore effort, 2008's Some Racing, Some Stopping, had a bright, sunshiny feel, Wildlife finds the band moving in a darker, more melancholy direction. It's like switching from high beams to low beams.
Optical apparatus: Binoculars
What it is: Two lenses attached to one another at roughly the distance of human eyes, allowing users to view distant objects with both eyes. Oh come on, you know what binoculars are.
Relevant musical counterpart: Kevin Rudolf—a rap-rocker signed to Cash Money Records, who has also produced albums for the likes of Cobra Starship—wasn’t always packaged as a bandanna-clad tough guy. Back in the '90s, he took the form of a sensitive balladeer called Binocular. An endorsement of a Binocular song about saying goodbye to a loved one, via a lovelorn commenter on YouTube: “It's 2:54 a.m. I've been playing this song for who knows how long, my eyes are sore from crying. Every moment without her feels like an eternity.”
Relevant optical apparatus: Eyeball
What it is: A sense organ that detects light and contours. Each eyeball is connected to an optic nerve, which sends visual information to the occipital lobe of the brain.
Relevant musical counterpart: Thee Oh Sees make garage rock with a healthy dose of proto-punk experimentalism and a good ear for pop hooks. But don't take our word for it—even if you missed their show at The Black Cat earlier this month, you can still watch them on video.
