Lawrence Arabia - Chant Darling

Lawrence Arabia

Chant Darling

(Bella Union)

Rating: 3.4 of 5

Using Lawrence Arabia as his allonym, James Milne’s rhapsodic lost-at-sea approach to his second full-length brings forth a break in the clouds for this winter season. Like a call of spring in the air, he is fleeting bristly brushstrokes of fervent orchestration with his trusty Technicolor palette. A tip-of-the-cap to Pet Sounds-era baroque pop, a gleeful arms-over-shoulders chantey, a galloping synthesis of bright instrumentation and somber inflection, Chant Darling is all of these things.

His falsetto gleaming on the first forty-five seconds of “Look Like a Fool”, with its dripping tenor, sounds marvelous. “The Undesirables”, with its refrain of cascading semitones, carries from the sour ending of the opening cut over into the bubbling single “Apple Pie Bed”. Its unrelentingly charming chorus matches blow-for-blow with the sprightly “The Beautiful Young Crew” and the understated “Eye A”. “Auckland CBD Part 2” is a tiny buried treasure here, not to be forgotten, with its beachy worldbeat feel.

The concept of the wayfaring stranger is backdropped by the brilliant eclecticism. The juxtaposition of Milne’s lyrical torment and the sunshiny production pleases à la The Format's Dog Problems. The dissimilarity is the presentation; the cover of Chant Darling has Milne looking desolate and weathered.

The focus unravels a bit with flounderings like “The Crew of the Commodore” and “Fine Old Friends”, but the pick-up intro of “I’ve Smoked Too Much” puts Milne back at the helm of the steering wheel. Highlighted by soaring harmonies, the painstaking elegy of “Dream Teacher” drops the anchor on this offering. To note, Milne’s voice here is somewhat reminiscent of former tourmate Will Sheff’s of Okkervil River.

A South Pacific fog seems to envelop the production at times, but the convivial humor and sweet sentiment wondrously collude in gluttonous delight.

Sometimes recounting the same brand of 60s guitar-pop idolatry as Olivia Tremor Control, other times Jonathan Richman; Lawrence Arabia is still striving to map out its course. The New Zealander is steadying his sights for shore this time. The journey is certainly an enjoyable one.

Apple Pie Bed - Lawrence Arabia

The review posted on ZapTown
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