Gavin B.

Bulldog's comparison of Stars to Scottish low-fi folk heroes, Belle & Sebastian is apt. I've always been a big fan of B&S member Isobel Campbell whose solo career has impressed me more than her contributions to B&S. On 1998's The Boy with the Arab Strap, Campbell delivered her first lead vocal, "Is It Wicked Not to Care?" She's my featured artist for today.

Life After Belle & Sebastian

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Isobel Campbell was a founding member of Belle & Sebastian

Time is Just the Same is from Amorino, Ms. Campbell's second solo effort. At first the orchestra arrangements of her folk music reminded me of the commercialized hootenanny folk music of Sixties artists like Bob Lind, Glenn Yarborough & Tim Hardin. The video even looks like a knock off of an old Sixties music video. The quirky songs on Amorino are alluring and after a few listenings the off-kilter orchestral tracks begin to have their own unique charm.



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In 2006 Isobel Campbell began a musical partnership with Mark Lanegan the front man for the Screaming Trees. They were an unlikely duo, Isobel, the classically trained cellist with the ethereal voice & her striking wholesome Jean Seberg inspired fashion look, was a sharp contrast to Lanegan the scruffy, gravel voiced singer for the grunge era band, the Screaming Trees. It those sharp contrasts that made the Campbell & Lanegan such a compelling pair of performers. On the haunting Black Mountain, Isobel sings and plays the cello part.



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The bluesy Come On Over (Turn Me On) demonstrates how Lanegan's Nick Cave-like baritone provides an erotic counterpoint to Isobel's soft and breathy vocals.



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Hawk which was released last Tuesday is the newest release from Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan. I haven't spent enough time with the album to give it a proper review but so far I'm impressed with a couple of the three or four songs I've selectively listened to.

Complete Discography of Isobel Campbell

With Belle & Sebastian
Tiger Milk (1996)
If You're Feeling Sinister (1996)
The Boy With the Arab Strap (1998)*
Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant (2000)
Storytelling (2002)

Isobel Campbell Studio albums
The Green Fields of Foreverland (1999) (as The Gentle Waves)
Swansong For You (2000) (as The Gentle Waves)
Amorino (2003)*
Milkwhite Sheets (2006)*

Studio Albums With Mark Lanegann
Ballad of the Broken Seas (2006)
Sunday at Devil Dirt (2008)*
Hawk (2010)

* indicates the most notable album releases