Camera Obscura is proud to announce the second new act on the label in 2000, Laconic Chamber, who hail from Washington, DC and specialise in a particularly compelling brand of haunted, post-everything chamber rock. Aside from a single track ("Ink-Blots") on a 7" compilation via local DC indie label Nightshade, this is their first release. 

As Washington DC and the surrounding areas have become increasingly affluent, the members of Laconic Chamber have been developing an increased intolerance towards the choices that they are conventionally expected to make. They craft their sound as if for sleeping and dreaming depressives - a sort of compensation for grinding through the machinations of wage-slavery, rapacious landlords, and loss of friends to upward mobility. Dorothy Geller is a writer who is concerned with the insidiousness of normative culture, and plays in a duo, From Quagmire, which has recently been featured at insound.com's MP3 gallery. James Wolf works with Dorothy at Recorded Sound in the Library of Congress, and contributed to the Second Edition of the Sun Ra lifeography from Earthly Recordings. Eric Bruns is a visual artist who has had successful shows of his works in the DC area. Evan Shurak is a thoughtful and creative mainstay of numerous DC bands.

Dorothy Geller is the focal point of the band's dynamic, her angular and enigmatic compositions are channelled to the rest of the ensemble by her sparse vocals and economically played guitar. They are the eye of the storm of instrumentation whipped up by the other members. Eric Bruns' bass is sonorous and exploratory rather than rhythmic, weaving questions in and out of the songs. When he switches to clarinet, it is often revelatory: much of the melodic content here is carried by clarinet and violin rather than voice and guitar. Evan Shurak's percussion supports the songs in an orchestral way, providing fills and emphatic flourishes around the melodies rather than pounding out a 4/4 foundation. Wolf's violin is perhaps the most dramatic element of the sound, as in the track "Judas", where it is wielded like a sword of retribution. Throughout the twelve tracks there is plenty to captivate lovers of The Raincoats, Mazzy Star, Godspeed You Black Emperor!, and the whole Drag City post-rock contingent.