Trashcan Sinatras Duet With Camera Obscura's Tracyanne Campbell To Launch Seventh Album
(PC) Having surprise announced their return after four years away with a standalone February single, legendary Scottish five-piece, Trashcan Sinatras follow up to announce their first album in ten years. The band's original line up continues to hold high the torch of melodic, lyrically driven guitar pop by releasing Bad Husband, featuring Tracyanne Campbell of Camera Obscura, as just the second glimpse of their forthcoming seventh album, Ever The Optimist, due for release on Fri 31 July 2026.
Following up 'hazy and hungover' teaser track, The Bitter End, the band is delighted to include the vocals of Campbell alongside their own enigmatic frontman, Francis Reader, on Bad Husband's upbeat and fresh duet, a primary-coloured hop that belies its subject matter. The two, distinct voices from Scot-pop's outer fringes intertwine with dusky beauty as they sing of poor judgements, bad feelings and storms on the horizon. As Campbell's voice wraps around Reader's lead, the protagonists are forced to admit their failures with surprising joy. Reader briefly comments of the single: "Never has separation sounded quite so celebratory!"
The single arrives alongside a striking video directed by the band's visual collaborator, Chris Dooley. The film stars real-life married actors Paul F. Tompkins, the voice of Mr Peanutbutter from BoJack Horseman, and Janie Haddad Tompkins, whose improvised exchanges blur the boundary between performance and reality, the extended audition scene slowly revealing the tension in their relationship. Shot in Los Angeles, the video captures appropriate moments of awkward humour, raw emotion and documentary-like spontaneity, mirroring Bad Husband's bittersweet tension between heartbreak and buoyant melody.
Alongside Campbell's appearance as a kindred musical spirit, the reveal of Ever The Optimist's track listing also shows a collaboration with Green Gartside of Scritti Politti waiting for fans to indulge in, adding further intrigue in an album the band says leans into gentle experimentation, while remaining rooted in their melodic instincts. Production across the album came from a further source of musical pedigree, enlisting Paul Savage, drummer of The Delgados and co-conspirator with artists including Mogwai, Teenage Fanclub and Arab Strap, to take the controls.
With the album set for release across multiple formats, including standard and collectors' edition vinyl, CD and digital, the track listing for Ever The Optimist is confirmed as follows:
Ever The Optimist
Games For The ZX Spectrum
Bad Husband (ft. Tracyanne Campbell)
The Bitter End
A View From Nowhere
Hold On To Today (ft. Green Gartside)
The Associated Funk
Rome
Melodramatic
Birds I Couldn't Identify
Learning To Love Your Ghost
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