Camera

"Wrexham’s Camera are an exciting prospect, not only having a selection of songs that sound huge yet intimate, but also a vocally talented front man by the name of Matt Nicholls at the helm. I was blasted into the realms of revelation from the off as they performed tracks mostly from their amazingly eclectic new album For When You Wake, including the uplifting ‘Six Eight’, which left the whole of the venue holding its collective breath. Camera are causing a major stir with a sound that mixes softly strummed spangle rock to widescreen and immersive epics. As they chose to delve deeper and deeper into their set, I began to realise there are far bigger stages beckoning than the one they claimed so emphatically this evening." - Miniture Music Press

"Wrexham’s Camera are an exciting prospect, not only having a selection of songs that sound huge yet intimate, but also a vocally talented front man by the name of Matt Nicholls at the helm. I was blasted into the realms of revelation from the off as they performed tracks mostly from their amazingly eclectic new album For When You Wake, including the uplifting ‘Six Eight’, which left the whole of the venue holding its collective breath. Camera are causing a major stir with a sound that mixes softly strummed spangle rock to widescreen and immersive epics. As they chose to delve deeper and deeper into their set, I began to realise there are far bigger stages beckoning than the one they claimed so emphatically this evening." - Miniture Music Press

"Crawling out, we sought sanctuary within the ancient walls of the Parish Church and the headliners, the excellent Camera. Great songs, great musicians, great band! You will hear a lot more from these as they are one of the finest bands in Wales at the moment and that is saying something." - Louder Than War

"It was just the right pace for my first night and I enjoyed all the music, but Camera stood out; they filled a small portion of the hole in my heart that was left when The Frames turned into Swell Season." - Sticky Magazine, Toronto

"It was just the right pace for my first night and I enjoyed all the music, but Camera stood out; they filled a small portion of the hole in my heart that was left when The Frames turned into Swell Season." - Sticky Magazine, Toronto

Die Musik, welche fünf Musiker aus Wales unter dem Namen Camera produzieren, wird verglichen mit Bands wie Keane oder Coldplay. Wobei ich nicht weiß ob es ein Lob für eine Band ist, mit letztgenannten, preisgekrönten Langweilern verglichen zu werden. Denn langweilig geht es keinesfalls zu auf der Fireflies EP, welche schon seit einiger Zeit kostenlos von der Band zur Verfügung gestellt und an dieser Stelle empfohlen wird. - http://netfraze.de

Wrexham has been responsible for some very fine music this year. Swathes earned himself some good oxygen in the NME; Polly Mackey played SXSW and won sponsorships and support from industry bigwigs; Mother of Six released a stonking debut EP (received just too late to make it here). But did anyone from the North do anything to match Camera's excellent FREE Fireflies EP? This is 'just' emotive and melodic rock music, the kind they've been crafting, peerlessly, for nigh on a decade. To my mind we should not take their excellence for granted.
- Adam Walton - BBC Radio

Die Musik, welche fünf Musiker aus Wales unter dem Namen Camera produzieren, wird verglichen mit Bands wie Keane oder Coldplay. Wobei ich nicht weiß ob es ein Lob für eine Band ist, mit letztgenannten, preisgekrönten Langweilern verglichen zu werden. Denn langweilig geht es keinesfalls zu auf der Fireflies EP, welche schon seit einiger Zeit kostenlos von der Band zur Verfügung gestellt und an dieser Stelle empfohlen wird. - http://netfraze.de

With the opening crashing bars of this EP, Camera are setting the record straight, clearing the decks and rewriting their agenda.
Camera's debut LP 'Ashes And Dim Light' was a beautiful record that has been a firm favourite on theAbsurd’s stereo since its release in 2006; but if you've ever witnessed the band live you knew these guys were capable of something else.
The Fireflies EP delivers just that. The raw power and passion of the live performances is captured right here… this is Camera with everything turned up to 11.
It strides along with the confidence of a band that have been performing together since schooldays, and with guitarist Steve taking full control of “analogue ambience” and “digital distortion”, and with the recent introduction of keyboardist Tim, this makes for an altogether richer, fuller, warmer sound.
The intimacy and delicateness of their earlier work is still here, but it plays off in contrast to Camera’s darker side, highlighted perfectly in the abslolutely stunning “Wait For Me”.
Die hard Camera fans will love this, and new listeners will be delighted at eventually discovering one of North Wales’ finest. The Fireflies EP is a true gem and an essential part of anyone’s collection.

The Fireflies EP can be downloaded FREE at thefirefliesep.com - www.theabsurd.co.uk

With the opening crashing bars of this EP, Camera are setting the record straight, clearing the decks and rewriting their agenda.
Camera's debut LP 'Ashes And Dim Light' was a beautiful record that has been a firm favourite on theAbsurd’s stereo since its release in 2006; but if you've ever witnessed the band live you knew these guys were capable of something else.
The Fireflies EP delivers just that. The raw power and passion of the live performances is captured right here… this is Camera with everything turned up to 11.
It strides along with the confidence of a band that have been performing together since schooldays, and with guitarist Steve taking full control of “analogue ambience” and “digital distortion”, and with the recent introduction of keyboardist Tim, this makes for an altogether richer, fuller, warmer sound.
The intimacy and delicateness of their earlier work is still here, but it plays off in contrast to Camera’s darker side, highlighted perfectly in the abslolutely stunning “Wait For Me”.
Die hard Camera fans will love this, and new listeners will be delighted at eventually discovering one of North Wales’ finest. The Fireflies EP is a true gem and an essential part of anyone’s collection.

The Fireflies EP can be downloaded FREE at thefirefliesep.com - www.theabsurd.co.uk

This is a release that I will bet you a pound to a penny when it gets reviewed will get mentions of the C & K words (Coldplay/Keane) and I’ll bet many will say that this band has been influenced by both of those arena filling acts…

Yet I can sit here and tell you that in fact the opposite is true!

Camera were doing the C & K thing before either of those bands even knew what the fuck it was, way back when they were not Camera they were forging a new path in the whole melodic guitar piano driven indie hole, but they were ahead of the game. Lead singer Matt has a voice to die for and to cry with; he had emotion and a raw sensibility that seemed juxtaposed with his ability to soar from the quiet of a pin drop to the heights of an eagle on high, and a vocal range that then and now leaves me breathless. He deserves to be on that arena stage, but most of all he deserves to be heard. But the car he was driving back then was not quite ready for him…

The band moved on and got to record a whole album and it seemed they were going to reclaim the crown of giants from those southern pretenders. It was a good record, it included songs like ‘Going Nowhere’ and the seminal ‘Out On The Water’ but they seemed to be becoming just another band, others had caught up. They were seen more like followers than leaders, maybe the time was wrong, but something was not right…

That album (ASHES & DIM LIGHT) came out so long ago and it all seemed done and dusted, then late 2008 news broke that they were back recording new material and going forward to be coming back. They seemed now poised to deliver the record they were always capable of; the record that could define a generation, they still had one more bullet in that gun to fire and then re-load to take their picture beyond it’s own vision…

So in May 2009 an e-mail drops and simply says go to www.thefirefliesep.com nothing more, nothing less, it needed neither…

The E.P. opens with ‘Can’t Explain’, a subliminal guitar-driven radio-friendly bittersweet symphony that just fires the soul and achieves that missing goal for the band; they really do now sound ‘right’, not that they were ever really ‘wrong’, but now they have found their
true heart and seem to really believe in what they are doing, with each song moves their own goalposts beyond the listener…

The band are tight, the kind of tight that you only get when you have been doing this for so long that it becomes a second skin, each song leaner than the one before, each vocal so sublime and precise, each melody engraving itself into you heart without skipping a beat.
There is so much more going on underneath; there are now ‘noises’ that you don’t hear at first, especially on ‘Change Your Mind’ which is a sure-fire radio-friendly unit shifter if ever I heard one.

They now sound like a band playing for fun; because they can; just playing what they want, this is what they do, it’s not a copy, it’s an original. ‘Midnight Sun’ contains some quite breathtaking vocals both from Matt and from the rest of the band and as it ends on its ‘music box’ outro, you just want to start it again. For me this song showcases everything that is great about this band, it’s the mixture of NME past meeting NME future, and it does so effortlessly but they drive the melody beyond mere listening. You simply have to ‘hear’ these songs, they are modern, yet retro, they feel like you already know them, like you have owned them forever. It’s a trick that great bands do so well, that only comes with time, and make no mistake Camera are a great band…

I now just can’t wait to be in a venue hearing these songs played live mixed with their catalogue of previous releases, and future presentations, this is the door they had to open to ensure they had a future. They now need not look back, but only forward… The best thing for you to do is go to the website and download this ep for free…

SO WHAT YOU WAITING FOR….

I Have Heard Some Great Records This Year So Far and This Is A Great Record…

Jj

- www.shakenstir.co.uk

This is a release that I will bet you a pound to a penny when it gets reviewed will get mentions of the C & K words (Coldplay/Keane) and I’ll bet many will say that this band has been influenced by both of those arena filling acts…

Yet I can sit here and tell you that in fact the opposite is true!

Camera were doing the C & K thing before either of those bands even knew what the fuck it was, way back when they were not Camera they were forging a new path in the whole melodic guitar piano driven indie hole, but they were ahead of the game. Lead singer Matt has a voice to die for and to cry with; he had emotion and a raw sensibility that seemed juxtaposed with his ability to soar from the quiet of a pin drop to the heights of an eagle on high, and a vocal range that then and now leaves me breathless. He deserves to be on that arena stage, but most of all he deserves to be heard. But the car he was driving back then was not quite ready for him…

The band moved on and got to record a whole album and it seemed they were going to reclaim the crown of giants from those southern pretenders. It was a good record, it included songs like ‘Going Nowhere’ and the seminal ‘Out On The Water’ but they seemed to be becoming just another band, others had caught up. They were seen more like followers than leaders, maybe the time was wrong, but something was not right…

That album (ASHES & DIM LIGHT) came out so long ago and it all seemed done and dusted, then late 2008 news broke that they were back recording new material and going forward to be coming back. They seemed now poised to deliver the record they were always capable of; the record that could define a generation, they still had one more bullet in that gun to fire and then re-load to take their picture beyond it’s own vision…

So in May 2009 an e-mail drops and simply says go to www.thefirefliesep.com nothing more, nothing less, it needed neither…

The E.P. opens with ‘Can’t Explain’, a subliminal guitar-driven radio-friendly bittersweet symphony that just fires the soul and achieves that missing goal for the band; they really do now sound ‘right’, not that they were ever really ‘wrong’, but now they have found their
true heart and seem to really believe in what they are doing, with each song moves their own goalposts beyond the listener…

The band are tight, the kind of tight that you only get when you have been doing this for so long that it becomes a second skin, each song leaner than the one before, each vocal so sublime and precise, each melody engraving itself into you heart without skipping a beat.
There is so much more going on underneath; there are now ‘noises’ that you don’t hear at first, especially on ‘Change Your Mind’ which is a sure-fire radio-friendly unit shifter if ever I heard one.

They now sound like a band playing for fun; because they can; just playing what they want, this is what they do, it’s not a copy, it’s an original. ‘Midnight Sun’ contains some quite breathtaking vocals both from Matt and from the rest of the band and as it ends on its ‘music box’ outro, you just want to start it again. For me this song showcases everything that is great about this band, it’s the mixture of NME past meeting NME future, and it does so effortlessly but they drive the melody beyond mere listening. You simply have to ‘hear’ these songs, they are modern, yet retro, they feel like you already know them, like you have owned them forever. It’s a trick that great bands do so well, that only comes with time, and make no mistake Camera are a great band…

I now just can’t wait to be in a venue hearing these songs played live mixed with their catalogue of previous releases, and future presentations, this is the door they had to open to ensure they had a future. They now need not look back, but only forward… The best thing for you to do is go to the website and download this ep for free…

SO WHAT YOU WAITING FOR….

I Have Heard Some Great Records This Year So Far and This Is A Great Record…

Jj

- www.shakenstir.co.uk