Camera Melancholia is a double album of instrumental music inspired by and dedicated to Kerry McCarthy (1967-2021) who was Roy Montgomery's partner for twenty years and the mother of two children they had together. She died from cancer in early 2021 after first being diagnosed in 2014. McCarthy was a professional curator in the area of pictorial collections, particularly around photographic material, and her PhD used the work of Roland Barthes to theorize about the legacies of images associated with Antarctic exploration in the early 20th Century.The cover art for Camera Melancholia was provided by Ronnie van Hout, an Aotearoa New Zealand artist associated with the Pin Group and more. Van Hout was also a very close and long standing friend of McCarthy. The gatefold album includes the text for ten poems written for and about McCarthy.
Tracklist
01. First Exposure
02. A Series of Images From Your Youth
03. On the Eve of Leaving Dunedin for Christchurch
04. Courtship Caught Fleetingly
05. Second Exposure
06. The Very Picture of Dignity and Determination
07. Some Footage of Dancing that No-One Else Saw
08. Playing With the Children
09. Your Albescence
10. In Mutual Flux
11. Aura of the Afterlife 1
12. Aura of the Afterlife 2
13. Aura of the Afterlife 3
14. Aura of the Afterlife 4
15. Aura of the Afterlife 5
16. Aura of the Afterlife 6