For their third studio album, Scotland’s Camera Obscura make heart-skipping pop music that’s often sad and down but never out. Tracyanne Campbell may like to get her melancholy mope on but she always does so with a twinkle in her eye and a deep-rooted belief that music can salvage, if not save, the romantic soul. “Lloyd, I’m Ready To Be Heartbroken” responds to Lloyd Cole’s question “Are You Ready To Be Heartbroken?” with a fan’s swooning admiration. “I Need All the Friends I Can Get” turns cynical and brutally honest, telling off the very friends Campbell is trying to keep on her side. “Dory Previn” twists towards country, while “Country Mile” and “Tears For Affairs” stroll more down a light-hearted groove. With the help of producer Jari Haapalainen, a heavy, unrelenting sorrow expands the group’s musical attack to suggest they’ve fully digested the works of Jimmy Webb, Lee Hazlewood, and their personal promoters Belle and Sebastian to come up with their own winning combination.