If you know me, you know I love a good Brian Wilson-style harmony in my music as often as possible. Something about that male falsetto harmonization makes my skin feel all warm and sexy. Luckily for me, the trail blazed by Mr. Wilson is still being trod upon with regularity today, and my latest discovery along that path is a singer from New Zealand who goes by the moniker Lawrence Arabia.
"Lawrence" is actually James Milne, who was also frontman for the under-the-radar group The Reduction Agents, was involved with The Brunettes before they made any kind of splash as one of NZ's sweeter sounding exports of the past few years (no disrespect to the Flight of the Conchords boys, who are pretty sweet themselves), and played with the delightful Ruby Suns for a stint. I guess saying that you are a member of several of New Zealand's most well-received bands isn't too terribly difficult, as I'd suppose that the musician pool in this lightly populated land must be fairly limited until they can teach the sheep how to slap a bass. But nonetheless, Milne has also managed to expand his horizons from Kiwi country to tour with both Okkervil River and Feist. I'd say that it's fair to say that he's got a pretty solid musical pedigree, as well as some great taste in collaborators.
As Lawrence Arabia, Milne's sound focuses on a spare but lush arrangement of tongue-in-cheek vocals and those pretty Wilson harmonies. The music doesn't so much as drive itself home, as it meanders the scenic route to end up at the same sonic destination. Actually purchasing this music in the US is somewhat difficult and mostwhat pricey, but as usual, Myspace and YouTube provide. In the latter's case, Lawrence Arabia's sense of humor is prevalant in the latest video, which is fashioned to look like a political campaign for the "Lawrence Party" where Milne shakes hands to the lyrics, "We love each other, but we hate each other. We're afraid of each other, because we want to screw each other." Brilliant.
http://www.myspace.com/lawrencearabia
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