Record Highlight — Camerado

Camerado

An indie rock supergroup of sorts, Camerado’s origins go back nearly six years, when Undertow Music Collective co-founder Mark Ray began writing a new batch of songs after moving to Portland, Oregon from the midwest.

Inspired by the untimely passing of his father and his family’s subsequent journey westward, Ray completed demos of the songs in 2010, sharing them with friend and frequent collaborator, and revered Denton, Texas drummer/producer Matt Pence (Centro-matic, Justin Townes Earl, Midlake), who felt the tracks should be realized as a proper album. Aided by Portland producer​/musician John Askew (The Dodos, Richmond Fontaine, Neko Case), the self-titled record was completed in Fall of 2014.

Shimmering with plaintive, pastoral textures, the eponymous album reveals Ray’s love of seminal early 70s work by ELO, Badfinger, and Pink Floyd fused with a​ lean,​ Pacific Northwest indie sensibility.